New Orleans has a reputation for being a bit wild, but nobody expected ten men to literally vanish from the middle of the city's most secure facility in one night. It sounds like a movie script. Honestly, it feels like one too. On May 16, 2025, the Orleans Justice Center (OJC) became the site of one of the largest and most embarrassing mass escapes in recent American history.
Basically, ten inmates—including several men facing murder charges—didn't just walk out; they squeezed through a hole behind a toilet.
The fallout was massive. For months, the city was on edge. You’ve probably seen the headlines, but the details of how these New Orleans escaped inmates actually pulled it off are weirder and more frustrating than the initial reports suggested. It wasn't just "luck." It was a perfect storm of crumbling infrastructure, "defective locks," and some very questionable "inside help."
The "To Easy Lol" Breakout
If you think jail cells are solid concrete boxes, think again. The inmates started their move around 12:23 a.m. They spent about 20 minutes messing with a sliding cell door that was already known to be "faulty." They pulled it right off its tracks. Once they were inside a specific cell, they ripped the toilet and sink unit straight off the wall.
They weren't just guessing where to dig.
Behind that toilet was a maintenance corridor. They cut through horizontal steel bars—likely using a tool they shouldn't have had—and squeezed into the pipes' access area. By 1:01 a.m., they were out of the building. They climbed a perimeter fence using blankets to protect themselves from the razor wire and then literally ran across Interstate 10.
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Here’s the kicker: authorities didn’t even realize they were gone for seven hours.
It wasn’t until the 8:30 a.m. head count that anyone noticed ten grown men were missing. When investigators finally got into the cell, they found messages scrawled on the wall. One said "Fuck OPSO." Another, which went viral, simply read: "To easy lol."
Who Were the Men on the Run?
This wasn't a group of shoplifters. We're talking about individuals the state considered extremely dangerous. The list included:
- Derrick Groves: The most high-profile of the bunch. He was 28 and had been convicted of a 2018 Mardi Gras double murder.
- Corey Boyd: A 20-year-old facing second-degree murder charges for allegedly killing a witness.
- Antoine Massey: A man with a history of escaping custody and cutting off ankle monitors.
- Kendell Myles: The first to be caught, but not before he allegedly carjacked and shot a 59-year-old man in Uptown while on the run.
The search for these New Orleans escaped inmates turned into a multi-state manhunt involving the FBI, U.S. Marshals, and Louisiana State Police. Most were caught within a few weeks, hiding in New Orleans East or the French Quarter. But others made it much further.
Leo Tate and Jermaine Donald were tracked all the way to Walker County, Texas.
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Derrick Groves, the last man standing, led police on a five-month chase. He wasn't even in Louisiana anymore. He was eventually found in October 2025, hiding in a crawl space under a house in Atlanta, Georgia. It took a standoff and several rounds of tear gas to get him out.
How "Inside Help" Made It Possible
Sheriff Susan Hutson was pretty blunt about it from the start. She said it was "almost impossible" to get out of that jail without help. She wasn't lying.
A jail maintenance worker, Sterling Williams, was arrested just days after the escape. Why? Because investigators say he intentionally turned off the water to the cells so the inmates could remove the toilet without flooding the place.
It gets deeper.
By January 2026, the investigation revealed that more than a dozen people—friends, family, and former staff—had been charged with helping the escapees. A former officer named Darriana Burton was accused of helping plan the escape through video calls that were supposed to be monitored. Another woman, Connie Weeden, was charged with assisting her grandson, Jermaine Donald.
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Honestly, the whole thing exposed a "culture of failure" inside the OJC. Rushed hiring and poor oversight meant that people with "questionable judgment" were given keys to the kingdom.
Why This Still Matters for New Orleans
The escape wasn't just a news story; it was a symptom of a much bigger problem. The OJC has been under a federal consent decree for years. The locks were known to be broken. Sheriff Hutson had been asking for $5.2 million to replace them long before the "To easy lol" message appeared.
The public trust is basically in the gutter.
If ten men can walk out through a toilet hole and run across the highway while guards are on "meal breaks," people rightfully wonder if anyone is actually in charge. The city is now facing massive lawsuits from victims like Scott Toups, who was shot by Kendell Myles during the escape frenzy.
What to Keep an Eye On
The saga of the New Orleans escaped inmates might be physically over—everyone is back behind bars—but the legal and political fallout is just beginning. If you live in the area or follow criminal justice, here is what you need to watch:
- The Lock Replacement Audit: Check if the $5 million for new locks is actually being spent or if it’s tied up in City Hall red tape.
- Staffing Levels: The OJC is still chronically understaffed. Until they hit safe numbers, "blind spots" in the pods will remain.
- The Trial of the Accomplices: Watch the court cases for the 16+ people charged with aiding the escape. These trials will likely reveal even more security gaps.
- CrimeStoppers and Tech: The capture of several inmates was thanks to facial recognition and anonymous tips. Staying aware of your surroundings and using the CrimeStoppers app (504-822-1111) remains the most effective way for citizens to help.
The "To easy lol" era of the New Orleans jail needs to end, but that requires more than just fixing a hole in a wall. It requires a complete overhaul of how the city handles its most dangerous residents.
Actionable Insights: To stay informed on local safety, sign up for NOLA Ready alerts and monitor the Orleans Parish Sheriff’s Office public reports for updates on jail facility upgrades. If you have information regarding past criminal activity or suspected contraband smuggling, you can report it anonymously via the FBI’s New Orleans Field Office or Crimestoppers GNO.