New Orleans jail security 'train wreck' helped 4-time escapee, 9 others break out: former warden

Deficient security protocols allowed a serial escape artist and nine others to break out of a New Orleans jail, according to a former federal prison warden. 

"First of all, that jail had been deemed a train wreck in terms of just basic jail operations," Cameron Lindsay told Fox News Digital. 

Lindsay worked for 20 years in the federal prison system, seven of them as a warden. He was once the warden of the infamous Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn. He also served as a warden at two private prisons. Now, he is a consultant and expert witness. 

"It would appear that basic security inspections were not taking place at the jail. Inmates should never be able to tear a toilet off of a wall and just be able to go right to the perimeter fence," he said. "I mean, I just can't believe that." 

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In 2013, the Orleans Parish Sheriff's Office (OPSO), which runs the Orleans Parish Correctional Facility, entered into a consent decree with the Department of Justice to keep the jail operational. The decree stemmed from civil rights abuses, and OPSO agreed to federal government oversight and biannual compliance checks.

The latest of those compliance check reports shows that the jail was fully compliant with 42% of the decree's measures and completely noncompliant with at least 5% of them. It is partially compliant with about 53% of the measures. 

The report, released in October 2024, paints a picture of completely inadequate inmate supervision, leading to violence and the use of illicit drugs, shakedown and extortion schemes, and inmates having limitless time to fashion weapons out of everyday jail items. 

"There were significant incidents of violence occurring within the facilities during the monitoring period; including inmate-on-inmate assaults and assaults on staff," according to the report. "The level of violence in the facility continued to be at all-time high levels during this monitoring period."

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"The inmates appear to be emboldened in their refusal to follow the rules and obey the orders of the security staff," the report said. "Very concerning is that both staff and inmates continue to relay to the Monitors that there are inmates who are acting as ‘tank bosses’ and are extorting other inmates and requiring payment for protection."

There was also no jail monitoring system to verify that security checks were taking place and being reported at regular intervals. 

Those failures have come into focus since the early morning hours of May 17, when 10 inmates broke out of the jail and ran amok in the New Orleans area.

As of Friday afternoon, five of them remained at large.

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"Inmate security checks represent a critical, industry-accepted minimum standard," Lindsay told Fox News Digital. "Failure to conduct them is a serious threat to the overall basic security of any correctional facility. It speaks to [a] lack of effective correctional leadership and possibly a lack of appropriate funding."

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One of the 10 escapees was Antoine Massey, who was being held in the jail on charges of domestic abuse involving strangulation, theft of a motor vehicle and a parole violation. He was also wanted for rape and kidnapping in St. Tammany Parish, according to Fox 8.

Massey had escaped from custody three times since 2007 and was no longer eligible to be released with an electronic ankle monitor because he kept cutting them off. 

Massey was still at large on Friday afternoon.

Linsday said that from his perspective as a warden, OPSO should have taken extraordinary precautions with Massey, knowing that he had such a history. 

"He would be housed in the most secure location within the jail," he said. "All staff would be apprised of this individual, and given his incredibly high risk for escape, I would require documented frequent checks at least once every 30 minutes on an irregular schedule."

"I would also insist on documented correctional supervisor rounds, ensuring line staff are strictly following guidelines for inmates of this caliber who present the greatest threat to the community," he said.

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Lindsay was critical of the leadership at the jail.

"I don't know why you would have nine high-security-level individuals in one cell like that," he said. "It just doesn't sound like it's a well-operated correctional facility. It sounds like it's a mess."

"And I tell you what, here's another thing that speaks to me about the ineffectiveness of this facility," he said. "I would tell you that they don't know the first thing about emergency preparedness, because when you have an escape, there should be an immediate response. There should be no delay whatsoever. That information should go out to law enforcement and through the community."

The inmates escaped in the early morning hours of May 16, but jail staff did not realize they were missing until about 8:30 a.m., they said in a City Council meeting after the escape.

New Orleans Police Department Superintendent Anne Kirkpatrick was notified of the escape by one of her captains, who heard about it in the media. 

"An escape is the quintessential failure in corrections," Lindsay said. 

"It is the quintessential failure because your No. 1 objective is to protect the community and then to protect the staff and to protect the inmates. But your No. 1 objective is to ensure that these inmates are segregated from free society, so you have to prevent an escape."

The Orleans Parish Sheriff's Office did not respond to a request for comment.