Orleans Parish Sheriff Susan Hutson sent a campaign fundraising email highlighting security at the Orleans Justice Center three days before 10 inmates escaped from the facility, prompting criticism from a lawmaker who wants her to resign.
State and federal law enforcement officials have captured five of the 10 inmates who escaped from the Orleans Justice Center on May 16. Hutson took accountability for the jailbreak during a New Orleans City Council meeting on Tuesday.
“It is deeply troubling to me as your sheriff, and I know it is equally troubling to you and the public that we are sworn to protect. As your sheriff, I take full accountability for this failure, and it is my responsibility to make sure it is addressed with urgency and transparency,” she told the council.
Three days before 10 inmates escaped from the Orleans Justice Center, Hutson sent a campaign fundraising email that boasted about security improvements at the jail.
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“Since I became Sheriff, we’ve worked hard to make the Orleans Justice Center safer for everyone,” Hutson wrote. “Preventative maintenance is a priority, from taking out things that could be used as weapons to making sure the air conditioning and bathrooms work as they should.”
In a separate YouTube video included in the email, Hutson said there have been improvements to the Orleans Justice Center since she took over as sheriff.
“As we have had a population that is 50% greater than when I got into office, it has taxed all of our systems from air conditioning to plumbing to electric. And we’ve got to maintain that. And it was not maintained before I got here. So we now have regular preventative maintenance, which you know is much cheaper than actually having to replace a whole system such as an air conditioning system,” Hutson said.
“We are trying to be a well-run organization as well, put our plans in place, we assessed, put our plan in place, and now we’re carrying that forward,” Hutson said.
Democrat Louisiana House Rep. Aimee Adatto Freeman, who represents a portion of New Orleans, told Fox News Digital she thinks the campaign email was ironic given it was sent just before 10 inmates escaped.
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“My reaction was how ironic that you would send this out, and you seem to be asking for help, but yet you aren’t presenting any – I didn’t see any solutions being presented. And that is another reason why I don’t think she should be sheriff,” Freeman said. “But you are the sheriff, the buck stops with you. I mean, I appreciate the sheriff apologized yesterday and took accountability at the City Council meeting, but it took her five, four or five days to actually come to that conclusion. That’s unacceptable.”
Freeman said she called on Hutson to resign because of her alleged leadership failures.
“She is a failure of leadership, and her inadequacy in keeping the inmates locked up in prison is a failure at multiple levels. Her one job is to keep those inmates safely in custody and away from the general public and the citizens of our city and our state.”
Hutson, who’s up for re-election in the fall, temporarily suspended her campaign on Tuesday night but didn’t drop out.
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Freeman’s colleague, Rep. Jason Hughes, also called on Hutson to resign.
Since 2013, the Orleans Justice Center has operated under a federal consent decree. Every six months, federal jail monitors question deputies at the jail, according to FOX 8.
Every time, they wrote reports finding jailers “incapable of describing what an acceptable security check would be like.”
Kendell Myles, Robert Moody, Gary Price, Dkenan Dennis and Corey Boyd have been recaptured by law enforcement, leaving five inmates at large.
Boyd, the most recent inmate to be recaptured, was in jail on charges of second-degree murder, attempted second-degree murder, aggravated battery and threatening a public official.
The following inmates are still at large:
- Lenton J. Vanburen Jr., 26, faces charges of illegal carrying of weapons, possession of a firearm or weapon by a felon, obstruction of justice and introducing contraband in prison.
- Jermaine Donald, 42, faces charges of second-degree murder, aggravated battery, possession of a firearm or weapon by a felon and obstruction of justice.
- Antoine Massey, 32, faces charges of domestic abuse involving strangulation, theft of a motor vehicle and a parole violation.
- Derrick Groves, 27, faces three counts of attempted second-degree murder, two counts of second-degree murder and battery of a correctional facility employee.
- Leo O. Tate Sr., 31, faces charges of simple burglary of an inhabited dwelling, possession of a firearm or weapon by a felon, illegal carrying of a weapon, motor vehicle theft and multiple drug counts.
Fox News Digital reached out to Hutson for comment.
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