A New Orleans sheriff has been indicted with 30 felony offenses in connection with a jail break last May, where 10 inmates escaped.
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Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill announced Wednesday that Orleans Parish Sheriff Susan Hutson had been indicted by a special grand jury convened to investigate the May 16 escape at the Orleans Justice Center.
“While Sheriff Hutson did not personally open the doors of the jail for the escapees, her refusal to comply with basic legal requirements and to take even minimal precautions in the discharge of her duties directly contributed to and enabled the escape,” Murrill said in a statement.
The 30-count indictment in charges includes malfeasance in public office, filing or maintaining false records, obstruction of justice, and conspiracy to commit these alleged offenses. Her bond was set at $300,000.
The sheriff’s chief financial officer, Bianka Brown, was also indicted on the same charges but on 20 counts. Her bond was set at $200,000.
The sheriff’s office for comment did not immediately respond to NBC News’ request for comment. It wasn’t immediately clear if either defendant had legal representation.
In their May escape, inmates were seen on security footage fleeing the jail and had left crude graffiti that boasted “To Easy Lol,” over the hole through which they escaped. The inmates, whose ages ranged from 19 to 42, were all eventually recaptured by October.
Murrill added in her statement that she was discussing how to improve the jail’s security with Sheriff-elect Michelle Woodfork.
Both defendants have a status hearing on Thursday morning in New Orleans and both were ordered to surrender their passports.
The inmates were able to escape about 1 a.m. on May 16 last year thanks to defective locks in the cell that allowed them to break a door open. They then got through a hole in a wall that was accessed by them moving a toilet.
They were only discovered missing during a routine headcount at 8.30 a.m. that morning.
Hutson, who lost a reelection campaign and is due to leave her post, spoke to news media following the escape and called it a “very serious and unacceptable situation.”
She said in a farewell message on Tuesday had “tested us to the limit” but added that her office “responded with professionalism, urgency and resilience, and we came out stronger because of it.”
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