New arrest over escaped Louisiana prisoners as five fugitives still on the run

New Orleans police arrested a fifth person Friday in connection with the May 16 escape of 10 inmates from the Orleans Parish Justice Center.

Casey Smith, 29, has been charged with accessory after the fact to simple escape, after allegedly helping three of the escaped inmates. She reportedly admitted that she was in the car with her cousin Cortnie Harris, 32, who is accused of giving the fugitives a ride.

Harris is facing the same charge. She is also accused of having phone contact with a fugitive before the escape.

Five of the 10 escapees are still on the loose at the time of publication: Jermaine Donald, Derrick Groves, Leo Tate, Lenton Vanburen, and Antoine Massey.

Inmates Robert Moody, Dkenan Dennis, Kendall Myles, Gary Price, and Corey Boyd have been captured and are back in custody.

Smith's arrest follows that of Connie Weeden, 59, who was taken into custody on May 22. Weeden allegedly gave money to escapee Jermaine Donald through a payment app and had contact with him before and after the jailbreak.

The inmates escaped the facility through a hole in the bathroom wall behind a toilet. Housed in a minimum-security section of the jail, some of them were incarcerated for violent crimes, including murder.

According to authorities, the jail was severely understaffed at the time of the escape, with only 40 personnel overseeing 1,400 inmates.

Police have since arrested several people for aiding the escapees, including jail maintenance worker Sterling Williams, who allegedly shut off water to help the removal of a toilet, and Trevon Williams, who was already incarcerated on unrelated charges but rebooked Friday with an additional charge of principal to simple escape.

“As I promised when we initiated our investigation, we will hold absolutely everyone who contributed any role to the prison break in New Orleans accountable,” Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill said following Williams’ arrest.

Another person, Corvanntay Baptiste, has been charged with being an accessory after the fact, police announced Wednesday.

Baptiste is accused of helping captured escapee Corey Boyd, 19, by providing him with food while he was in hiding.

The incident has raised concerns about security and oversight at the Orleans Parish Justice Center and garnered criticism of Orleans Parish Sheriff Susan Hutson's leadership.

Hutson accepted responsibility for the jailbreak during a New Orleans City Council meeting on Tuesday.

"It is deeply troubling to me as your sheriff, and I know it is equally troubling to you and the public that we are sworn to protect. As your sheriff, I take full accountability for this failure, and it is my responsibility to make sure it is addressed with urgency and transparency," she said.

However, former NOPD Superintendent Ronal Serpas criticized Hutson’s "checkered past" after the escape in an interview with Fox News Digital on Thursday.

"Sheriff Hutson has had a very checkered past in the last 15 years in the city of New Orleans, with multiple complaints of administrative failures as the [former] independent police monitor, multiple complaints as the sheriff and the consent decree management and multiple complaints of ethical violations that have resulted in findings by the Louisiana Ethics Board," Serpas told the outlet.

"It's no surprise to the people of New Orleans that incompetence is key to her leadership style, and the people deserve so much better,” he added.

Three days before the escape, Hutson sent a campaign fundraising email highlighting recent security improvements at the jail.

"Since I became Sheriff, we’ve worked hard to make the Orleans Justice Center safer for everyone," Hutson wrote. "Preventative maintenance is a priority, from taking out things that could be used as weapons to making sure the air conditioning and bathrooms work as they should."

In a YouTube video included in the email, Hutson claimed the Orleans Justice Center had improved since she became sheriff.

"As we have had a population that is 50 percent greater than when I got into office, it has taxed all of our systems from air conditioning to plumbing to electric. And we've got to maintain that. And it was not maintained before I got here. So we now have regular preventative maintenance, which you know is much cheaper than actually having to replace a whole system such as an air conditioning system," Hutson said.

"We are trying to be a well-run organization as well, put our plans in place, we assessed, put our plan in place, and now we're carrying that forward," Hutson added.