New Orleans DA on Jailbreak: Sheriff's Office Failures and Witness Safety

Jailbreak and Sheriff's Office Deficiencies

• 🚨 The New Orleans District Attorney (DA) is providing an update on an escaped inmate situation, highlighting significant issues with the Sheriff's Office.
• ⚠️ The DA's office has repeatedly written to the Sheriff, detailing a lack of timely evidence submission and other critical breakdowns within the jail.
• 🛠️ Specific examples include the refusal of cases due to missing evidence, such as shanks hidden during a jail fight, and a deputy being charged for concealing weapons.
• 🔍 The DA expresses frustration that the governor did not directly contact his office for information, stating that evidence was never turned over to prosecute certain cases.

Witness and Staff Safety Concerns

• 😨 The DA personally fears for his safety and that of his lawyers who prosecuted a case against one of the escaped inmates, a man now at large.
• 🛡️ The DA's office immediately began working to protect victims and witnesses upon learning of the jailbreak, coordinating with NOPD for potential relocation.
• ⚖️ Lawyers who tried the case against the escaped inmate had to leave town with their families due to fear of retribution.

Systemic Failures in Jail Operations

• 🔓 The escape involved 10 men in a single pod not designed for that capacity, with critical monitoring failures.
• 🚫 Rules and protocols were broken, including dangerous inmates being housed on the first floor instead of higher levels.
• ⏰ The DA emphasizes that the destruction of a toilet and wall to facilitate the escape, and the subsequent movement of inmates, should have been observed in real-time, not discovered hours later.

DA's Office Performance and Backlog

• 📈 Orleans Parish boasts an 85% conviction rate in homicide cases, an all-time high in the modern era, despite challenges.
• 📚 The DA acknowledges a backlog of cases due to the pandemic and state crime lab issues but asserts that courtrooms are working diligently.
• 🗣️ He criticizes the governor's comments about slow-moving cases as factually dishonest and disingenuous, highlighting the office's success rate.

Broader Concerns and Ongoing Investigation

• 📢 Numerous concerns have been raised with the Sheriff's Office regarding inmates harming inmates and improper releases, with no effective correction.
• 🕵️ The DA's digital forensics team is actively listening to jail calls to gather information on who was involved in or aware of the planned jailbreak.
• 🙏 The DA expresses gratitude that the escaped inmates have not yet harmed anyone, attributing it to divine grace, and stresses the focus remains on bringing them back into custody.