New Orleans DA pulls out of jailbreak investigation amid conflict of interest allegation

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Facing allegations of a conflict of interest, Orleans Parish District Attorney Jason Williams removed himself this week from a Louisiana Attorney General-led investigation into the massive jailbreak that saw 10 men escape a New Orleans jail earlier this month.

Gov. Jeff Landry ordered an investigation into the jailbreak several days after the inmates escaped on May 16. Williams had initially described the inquiry as a “joint effort” with the Attorney General Liz Murrill and toured the jail with her as part of the probe.

Orleans Parish Sheriff Susan Hutson accused Williams’ role in the investigation as being “fueled by personal animus and political campaigning” according to a court filing earlier this week reviewed by The Associated Press. Williams denied these allegations.

Earlier this year, Williams endorsed his employee Michelle Woodfork to replace Hutson as sheriff in 2026. Woodfork declined to comment.

In a statement, Williams said the recusal motion had not been granted because there were “no legal grounds to support it.”

Judge Nandi Campbell, who received the motion for recusal, declined to comment.

Williams and Hutson dispute the timeline and reasons for his withdrawal from the investigation.

Williams said he removed himself due to its “multi-jurisdictional nature” — citing a separate jailbreak that occurred earlier this month in another Louisiana parish — and has deferred to Murrill.

Williams said his office engaged in the investigation “to ensure that no evidence was lost or compromised” after the breakout.

He criticized Hutson for not “immediately” requesting an “independent forensic processing” of the facility, where inmates had yanked open a cell door and crawled through a hole cut from behind a toilet. Authorities have arrested a maintenance worker for allegedly aiding in the escape.

“It’s hard not to see this agency as anything but compromised until any bad actors have been identified and rooted out,” Williams said of the sheriff’s office.

At a press conference the day of the escape on May 16, Hutson said that she believed the timing of the jailbreak may have been politically motivated.

Hutson’s motion for recusal says that Williams’ investigation had given an “unfair advantage to his preferred candidate” and would be a “strain” on the resources of the sheriff’s office.

Hutson’s allegations against Williams come after local and state officials heaped criticism on Hutson’s management of the jail and her office’s hourslong delay in notifying authorities of the escape. While Hutson has sought to blame the escape on a lack of funding to help make urgent improvements to faulty locks and ailing jail infrastructure, city and state leaders have generally disputed this characterization.

Murrill said in a Thursday statement that she is heading the investigation to provide “accountability” and “recommendations” to the state and the city “to ensure that an escape like this never happens again.”

Hutson said that she “welcomes the oversight of the Attorney General’s Office and remains fully committed to cooperating with all relevant authorities.”

The Orleans Parish jail system, long plagued by dysfunction, has been under federal oversight since 2013.

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Brook is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.