SALON SUPPER CLUB
CELEBRATING
NICOLAS FLOC’H: FLEUVES-OCÉAN, MISSISSIPPI WATERSHED THURSDAY, MAY 22
PRESENTED BY
N O L A.C O M
|
S at u r d ay, M ay 17, 2025
$2.00X
10 INMATES ESCAPE FROM ORLEANS JAIL
Only 2 recaptured Friday; officials suspect they had help on inside BY JOHN SIMERMAN, MARCO CARTOLANO and MISSY WILKINSON Staff writers
Ten inmates, including some accused of murder and other violent crimes, escaped from the Orleans Parish jail in the wee hours Friday morning, sparking a citywide manhunt and raising questions about security failures leading to the brazen breach. Orleans Justice Center officials discov-
ered that inmates were missing during a routine head count at 8:30 a.m. Friday, Sheriff Susan Hutson said during the first of three news conferences held Friday. Three jail workers have been suspended. Hutson and other jail officials said investigators suspect someone inside the Sheriff’s Office may have aided in the 1 a.m. escape. They said it appeared the men pulled a cell door off its track and a toilet from a wall, escaping through a cut-out in the Sheetrock, which was rein-
forced with a grid of steel bars that appeared to have been unbolted from the outside. They took a flight of stairs down and left through a door on the jail “docks,” scaling an outer wall and running across Interstate 10, the officials said. New Orleans Police Superintendent Anne Kirkpatrick described an “urgent and serious situation” Friday as over
ä See ESCAPE, page 4A
N.O. facing $70M deficit
Overtime pay connected to Jan. 1 attack makes up more than half BY BEN MYERS Staff writer
a torrent of pointed questions about her leadership and demands for accountability from elected officials and election opponents. “We must hear directly from the sheriff herself to answer when this happened, how it happened, and why it took so long for her to alert the public that these individuals escaped her jail,” said Michelle Woodfork, the former interim New Orleans Police Superintendent who is
New Orleans’ government is running a $70 million deficit, thanks in large part to overtime pay connected to the Jan. 1 Bourbon Street attack and to the new security measures that followed it, a scenario that has caused officials to consider fee hikes, a hiring freeze and cuts to criminal justice agencies. Police and firefighters’ overtime make up more than half the deficit, and Chief Administrative Officer Gilbert Montaño said this Montaño year’s overruns more accurately reflect what is needed each year to prevent future attacks and maintain steep reductions in other violent crime. “We want to budget correctly for them, and that’s why you see us having different cost-cutting measures to ensure they can maintain those hours as necessary,” Montaño said in an interview. Montaño, addressing the City Council Budget Committee on Thursday, said the deficit is “very manageable,” but it adds to pressure to the city’s budget as federal pandemic aid dries up and officials are concerned about protecting the city’s reserves. On Wednesday, officials said they had overestimated 2024 property tax collections by $18 million and may need to revise this year’s forecast as well. The news of belt-tightening generated praise from some council members, who have been at odds with the administration in recent months over city spending. “I’m relieved there is no financial
ä See SHERIFF, page 5A
ä See DEFICIT, page 4A
STAFF PHOTO By BRETT DUKE
Orleans Parish Sheriff Susan Hutson speaks about inmates escaping from Orleans Justice Center at a news conference on Friday.
Sheriff faces intense criticism after jailbreak Escapes could become liability for Hutson’s reelection hopes
local jail by just four votes. On Friday, that win seemed like a distant memory as Hutson grappled with an overnight escape by 10 detainees — including several with allegedly violent histories — from that very jail, which her office oversees. Nine of the prisoners reBY JAMES FINN Staff writer mained on the run late Friday after State Police recaptured one who was hiding Orleans Parish Sheriff Susan Hutson beneath a car in the French Quarter, Hutscored a major political victory last week son’s office said. when she earned voters’ approval for anHutson, who is vying for reelection in a other decade of funding for New Orleans’ contentious citywide race, quickly faced
Nottoway a total loss after massive fire BY HALEY MILLER Staff writer
Nottoway plantation owner Dan Dyess will consider rebuilding the Antebellum-era mansion in White Castle, once home to a wealthy sugar planter and 155 enslaved people, after a structure fire Thursday razed the main house. “We’re very devastated, we’re upset, we’re sad,” Dyess said
WEATHER HIGH 91 LOW 76 PAGE 6A
Friday. “We put a lot of time, effort and money to developing this property.” The site will be evaluated in the next two weeks to determine the feasibility of rebuilding, he said. Staff reported the fire around 2 p.m. Thursday after spotting smoke coming from the south wing. The mansion’s remains smoldered well into Friday afternoon. The property, renamed Notto-
way Resort, served as an ornate reminder of Louisiana’s brutal history of chattel slavery and divided residents over its historic and aesthetic significance. It also boosted the economy in rural Iberville Parish, bringing in tourists and hosting events on its manicured grounds. “It stood as both a cautionary
ä See NOTTOWAY, page 5A
Business ......................5B Deaths .........................3B Opinion ........................6B Classified .....................5D Metro ...........................1B Sports ..........................1C Comics-Puzzles .....1D-4D Nation-World................2A
Light smoke can be seen from a handful of active hot spots on Friday as crews remain on scene after a fire engulfed the historic Nottoway Resort on Thursday. STAFF PHOTO By HILARy SCHEINUK
12TH yEAR, NO. 278