New Orleans Jail Worker Sentenced for Enabling 10-Inmate Escape

On Thursday, a New Orleans jail worker was sentenced to 2.5 years in prison for assisting 10 prisoners in escaping through an opening behind a toilet after cutting off its water supply. Thirty-four-year-old custodian Sterling Williams admitted guilt to a single charge of malfeasance in office for facilitating one of the most significant prison escapes in modern American history.

Water Shutoff and the May 2025 Breakout

Ten prisoners took out a toilet, squeezed through an opening in the wall, and climbed over an exterior fence to escape after Williams cut off the water to a cell in May 2025. They left behind a scrawled graffiti note reading To Easy LoL.

Williams received an additional 2.5 years of suspended sentence time alongside three years of probation. Prosecutors dropped 10 counts against him accusing him of being a principal to aggravated escape, an offense punishable by up to 10 years under Louisiana law.

Defense Attorney Argues Williams Did Not Intentionally Aid Escapees

Defense attorney Michael Kennedy argued that Williams did not intentionally help the escapees, though he acknowledged making mistakes on the job. Williams should have had a work order generated before shutting off the water for the clogged toilet.

He does admit that he failed to follow protocol in a job as a public employee, and that it is possible that those actions aided in a plan hatched by 10 inmates to escape. But again, without Mr. Williams’ knowledge, Kennedy said.

Recapture of Inmates and Indictments for Officials

All 10 of the inmates were eventually captured. One convicted murderer remained on the run for five months before authorities discovered him hiding beneath a house in Atlanta. They face charges of aggravated escape and are scheduled for a jury trial in April.

At least 14 additional individuals—frequently relatives and acquaintances of the runaways—were taken into custody alongside Williams and accused of helping the escapees by supplying shelter, money, food, and transportation. A grand jury issued a 30-count indictment earlier this year targeting former Orleans Parish Sheriff Susan Hutson for public records falsification, obstruction of justice, and malfeasance. Although Hutson faces no allegations of actively assisting the prisoners in their breakout, Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill noted that an investigation by the state concluded Hutson’s deficient administration caused the jailbreak.

The chief financial officer of the sheriff’s office, Bianka Brown, faced an indictment containing 20 comparable counts as well. Hutson and Brown have pleaded not guilty.