NEW ORLEANS, La. (AP) — Officials on Sunday increased the reward for the capture of seven inmates who escaped from a New Orleans jail by fleeing through a hole behind a toilet.
FBI Special Agent Jonathan Trapp said at a Sunday news conference that seven of the 10 men are still at large and that the FBI is offering $10,000 per inmate instead of the $5,000 previously announced. He said he believes members of the public may be aiding the men.
The men range in age from 19 to 42 and face a variety of charges including aggravated assault, domestic abuse battery and murder.
The announcement came as at least a dozen law enforcement agencies entered the third day of the search. The FBI reward is in addition to $5,000 rewards offered by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and $2,000 from CrimeStoppers.
A spokesperson for the Louisiana State Police said that the agency was unable to provide details about the scope and target of the investigation for security reasons. The spokesperson added that a multiagency task force was scouring the region for the remaining fugitives.
In a separate statement, Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill said on Sunday her office's “main priority remains recovering the prisoners, protecting the public, securing and stabilizing the facility staff, and building."
At least one of the escaped inmates was captured based on a tip from the public, according to a statement from the FBI on the social media platform X.
New Orleans Police Department Superintendent Anne Kirkpatrick warned that the fugitives are dangerous in a news conference on Friday night but also urged the public “not to panic.”
Orleans Parish Sheriff Susan Hutson said the men were able to get out of the Orleans Justice Center because of “defective locks.” Hutson said she has continuously raised concerns about the locks to officials and, as recently as this week, advocated for money to fix the aged infrastructure.
“This massive jail break could be the largest jail break in the history of the state, and it never should have happened. The public deserves to know how it happened,” Gov. Jeff Landry said at the Sunday news conference.
Landry called for an audit of the jail by the Department of Corrections and hopes to have that done by the end of the week. He said everyone in the system needs to be held accountable “except for the police, who seem to be doing their job.”
Louisiana State Police Superintendent Colonel Robert Hodges said authorities in neighboring states have been notified but officials do not believe the men have left the state yet. Leads for the men have not panned out, he said.
Landry declined to comment on whether the escape was an inside job and how the escape happened.
The Associated Press
