A special grand jury indicted a New Orleans sheriff almost a year after 10 inmates escaped from a local jail under her leadership.
Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill said in a statement that while Orleans Parish Sheriff Susan Hutson “did not personally open the doors of the jail for the escapees, her refusal to comply with basic legal requirements and to take even minimal precautions in the discharge of her duties directly contributed to and enabled the escape.”
Hutson and Bianka Brown, the Orleans Justice Center’s chief financial officer, were charged with malfeasance in office; conspiracy to commit malfeasance in office; filing or maintaining false public records; conspiracy to commit filing or maintaining false public records; obstruction of justice and conspiracy to commit obstruction of justice.
While the grand jury indicted Hutson on 30 felony counts, it indicted Brown on 20. The charges aren’t limited to Hutson’s involvement in the jailbreak. According to WWL News, prosecutors allege wrongdoing going back to when the sheriff took her badge in 2022. Hutson’s term as sheriff was set to end Monday.
Straight Arrow reached out to the Orleans Parish Sheriff’s Office for comment.
Last May, 10 inmates fled the Orleans Justice Center by digging a hole out of a wall behind a toilet. Messages written on the wall included “We innocent,” “To (sic) easy lol,” and “Catch us when you can.”
The sheriff’s office released video footage of the detainees that showed them exiting the jail through a door, scaling a wall and running across the interstate shortly after. Video surveillance confirmed they left through a door in the docks where supplies were brought into the jail.
The ten inmates, identified as Corey Boyd, Dkenan Dennis, Jermaine Donald, Derrick Groves, Antoine Massey, Robert Moody, Kendell Myles, Gary Price, Leo Tate and Lenton Vanburen, were all eventually found and taken back to jail.
Multiple people were arrested for allegedly helping the former fugitives, with Hutson saying that they may have had assistance from people on the inside and the outside.
In an August 2025 interview with CBS News, Hutson said there were “major design flaws” making the jail unsafe both for those housed there and its employees. City officials, she previously told reporters, ignored her repeated requests for renovations and security upgrades.
The jail, she added, was understaffed at only 60%.
“We need more people in this jail to secure it, and that didn’t happen,” Hutson said. “So, for the last three years, I’ve been saying this every year during budget cycle, every chance I get that I have a chance to speak to the city government, and it’s not been rectified. So here we come to May. Now it comes full circle.”
Orleans Justice Center has been under a federal consent decree since 2013. Federal monitors previously said the jail’s staffing and supervision were inadequate under Hutson.
First court appearance
NOLA.com reported that Hutson appeared in court to face the charges against her for the first time on Thursday. Criminal District Judge Franz Zibilich ordered that Hutson and Brown turn in their passports and told them not to leave the state.
Hutson and Brown were booked in Jefferson Parish late Wednesday, NOLA.com wrote. Hutson made her $300,000 bond, and Brown was released on a $200,000 bond, the publication said.
Hutson’s attorney, Gregory Carter, said his client is “offended” by the indictment.
“I think we all would be caught off guard to come to serve this city, and serve it passionately, and to have something like this happen,” he said outside of the courtroom, according to NOLA.com. “We are eagerly awaiting our day in court to prove these allegations wrong.”
Added Carter: “She’s innocent and she’s going to deal with everything as it comes.”
Former New Orleans Police Department interim superintendent Michelle Woodfork won the sheriff’s election in October, beating Hutson by a wide margin. Woodfork’s set to take office Monday.
Murill said she continues to have “productive conversations with Sheriff-elect Michelle Woodfork on how to improve operations, secure the facility, and build in basic financial oversight that complies with state law.”
“I am confident in her commitment to implement the difficult changes needed to reform the jail,” Murill said.