10 inmates escape from New Orleans jail

Catch up quick: The inmates were discovered missing during a routine headcount at the Orleans Justice Center at 8:30am Friday, according to Orleans Parish Sheriff Susan Hutson. The Sheriff's Department operates the jail.

• Three of the escapees have been caught and transferred into state custody. See below for a list of the escapees' names.

Zoom in: The inmates are believed to have escaped through a hole behind a toilet in a cell, OPSO says.

• The agency shared photos of a rectangular cut-out with "To Easy LOL" written above it.
• The escapees then went out through a loading dock and scaled the exterior wall to freedom, Hutson said. From there, it was a clear path to the interstate, officials said.

Threat level: Authorities are urging residents to remain vigilant of their surroundings.

• Downtown businesses told WDSU on Friday they were locking their doors and only allowing in people with keycards. Schools were also tightening security.
• NOPD Superintendent Anne Kirkpatrick said authorities have been notifying victims and witnesses involved in the escapees' cases and making sure they are safe.
• They've already moved one family, she said at a press conference.

Between the lines: Authorities previously said 11 people escaped but that was not correct, Hutson said at a press conference Friday afternoon.

• One of the inmates had been moved to another area of the jail and was mistakenly marked as missing. He is in custody.

Escape timeline

Inmates at the New Orleans jail are typically locked down at 10:30pm, Hutson said.

• At 12:23am, OPSO Major Silas Phipps said, detainees began yanking on a first-floor sliding cell door to pull it off-track while a civilian department employee, who was charged with watching that "pod" of cells, stepped away to get food.
• The inmates successfully broke open the door and passed through before that employee returned, so she was unaware of any escape, Phipps said.
• The inmates then navigated through the jail to a loading bay door, where they exited the jail at about 1am, Phipps said. From there, they scaled a wall, covering razor wire with blankets they'd brought from inside the jail, and ran across Interstate 10.

Much of the escape was caught on camera, which the department released Friday night. Watch it in the embedded player above.

• In the video, the inmates can be seen leaping off the loading ramp dock, a rush of men in orange and grey sweats.

Officials noticed the inmates were missing at Friday's routine 8:30am headcount.

State of play: In describing the escape, Hutson and her staff echoed calls for jail upgrades, which she suggested may have prevented the jailbreak.

• "These folks that were able to get out did so because of defective locks on the cells," she said. "I have talked about those locks since I got into office."
• Sheriff's Department employees, including Hutson, refuted questions Friday evening about whether the jail was being adequately monitored, instead pointing to the deteriorating facility and what they described as its longtime underfunding.

Jailbreak likely an "inside job"

Zoom in: Hutson and her staff said Friday it's unlikely the inmates could have escaped without some kind of help. Three employees have been placed on suspension pending the ongoing investigation.

• Part of the inmates' escape was aided by the the removal of toilets and other jail "infrastructure," said Deputy Chief of Corrections Jeworski "Jay" Mallett, including clean cuts of rebar that should have blocked their exit.
• "This could not be removed from the inside," he said, noting that the department was already investigating "if this was an inside job" by midday Friday.

Yes, but: "We're not going to tar and feather everybody with the same brush, but we're going to … hold them accountable," Hutson said to questions about the trustworthiness of her deputies.

Blame game begins

The intrigue: Councilwoman Helena Moreno told WWL that other agencies were "not notified in a timely manner" of the escape.

• In a statement, District Attorney Jason Williams called the escape "a complete failure of the most basic responsibilities entrusted to a sheriff or jail administrator," noting also his concern over the timeline of who was informed and when.
• "Valuable time was wasted," he said.

NOPD was notified around 10:30am, Kirkpatrick said. OPSO posted to Facebook about the jailbreak at about 11am.

• "I think it's interesting and bizarre that it took so long to notice they were gone," Moreno told WWL. "It just took too long."
• When a reporter asked Kirkpatrick about the timeline of public notification, she said "of course it's concerning" and something she'd focus on after the inmates' recapture.

The other side: Hutson initially refused to answer questions about the timeline of public notification during her first press conference Friday. She was seen on video walking away from reporters as questions about it were lobbed at her back.

• But in a follow-up press conference, she took issue with what she described as the politicization of a major public safety event.
• She also said she was made aware of the escape by about 9am, and her department notified the U.S. Marshals and other local law enforcement by 9:30am.

Hutson is up for re-election this fall, timing which she said made the jailbreak "very suspicious."

• "This was coordinated," she said. "There's more than meets the eye."

List: Escaped inmates

The escaped inmates are, according to OPSO:

• Gary C. Price, 21
• Corey E. Boyd, 19
• Lenton J. VanBuren Jr., 26
• Jermaine Donald, 42
• Antoine T. Massey, 32
• Derrick D. Groves, 27
• Leo O. Tate Sr., 31
• Dkenan Dennis, 24, who was caught near Chef Menteur Highway and Dale Street on Friday night, OPSO says.
• Robert Moody, 21, who was caught Friday night in the Hoffman Triangle after law enforcement received a tip through Crimestoppers, OPSO says.
• Kendell Myles, 20, who was confirmed caught by Troop NOLA. He was found hiding beneath a car in the Hotel Monteleone parking garage, OPSO and Louisiana State Police said Friday.

Go deeper: Learn about their charges from The Times-Picayune.

This is a breaking story and will be updated.