Orleans Sheriff Susan Hutson Indicted on 30 Felony Counts Days Before Leaving Office

NEW ORLEANS, La. — A New Orleans special grand jury indicted Orleans Parish Sheriff Susan Hutson on 30 felony counts Wednesday, tying her to the May 2025 escape of 10 inmates from the Orleans Justice Center. The same grand jury indicted the sheriff’s office chief financial officer, Bianka Brown, on 20 felony counts.

The indictments land six days before Sheriff-elect Michelle Woodfork is sworn in May 4, capping Hutson’s single term in office.

According to Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill’s office, the grand jury returned the indictments after months of testimony and evidence presented by Louisiana Department of Justice prosecutors. Murrill convened the grand jury herself in the weeks after the May 16, 2025 jailbreak, in which detainees pulled a toilet from a cell wall, cut through steel bars, and slipped out through a hole behind the plumbing.

Get our free mobile app

What the Charges Allege

The 30-count indictment against Hutson covers six categories of offenses, according to NOLA.com. She faces 14 counts of malfeasance in office, four counts of conspiracy to commit malfeasance, three counts of filing or maintaining false public records, three counts of conspiracy on those filings, three counts of obstruction of justice, and three counts of conspiracy to commit obstruction.

Brown’s 20-count indictment covers the same six categories of charges in smaller numbers.

Criminal District Judge Pro Tem Franz Zibilich set Hutson’s bond at $300,000 and Brown’s at $200,000. Both were ordered to surrender their passports and stay in Louisiana while the case moves forward. A status hearing for both is set for 9 a.m. Thursday in Section J at the Orleans Criminal Courthouse.

In a statement issued after the indictment, Murrill said her office made a commitment after the escape that those responsible would be held accountable. “While Sheriff 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,” Murrill said.

NOLA.com reported that Hutson did not respond to a phone message seeking comment.

How the Escape Happened

The May 16, 2025 escape from the Orleans Justice Center triggered a months-long manhunt that stretched from the French Quarter to Texas to Atlanta. According to court documents and a CBS News timeline, the inmates began tampering with a sliding cell door around 12:23 a.m., yanked it off its track, removed a combination toilet-and-sink unit, and sawed through steel bars behind it.

A jail maintenance worker, Sterling Williams, was later arrested for cutting off the water supply that allowed the toilet to be removed. Williams told investigators an inmate, Antoine Massey, had threatened to shank him if he refused. Once the inmates cleared the wall, they exited through a loading dock, used blankets to scale a barbed-wire fence, and crossed Interstate 10 on foot.

The breakout went unnoticed until the 8:30 a.m. headcount, more than seven hours later. No correctional officers were assigned to the pod at the time of the escape. A civilian monitoring technician had stepped away to get food.

All 10 escapees were eventually recaptured. Six had been charged with murder or attempted murder. The last fugitive, convicted double-murderer Derrick Groves, was captured in Atlanta on Oct. 8, 2025, nearly five months after the breakout. In all, 26 people were charged with crimes connected to the escape, including 16 accused of helping the inmates before, during, or after the breakout.

A Term Marked by Controversy

Hutson took office in 2022 after defeating longtime incumbent Marlin Gusman, becoming the first Black woman elected sheriff in Louisiana. She ran on a reform platform. The four-year term that followed was dogged by financial and operational controversies long before the jailbreak.

In November 2024, the New Orleans Office of Inspector General released an audit finding the sheriff’s office had overpaid deputies roughly $259,758 for 2023 Mardi Gras security details, citing payroll and internal-control failures. Hutson rejected the audit and accused the inspector general of holding what she called a “misogynistic view of women leaders.”

She was also held in contempt of court in July 2025 by a panel of seven Criminal District Court judges who said she had refused to facilitate weekend and holiday court appearances for detainees. Hutson cited staffing shortages. That sentencing has been suspended pending appeal at the 4th Circuit.

Voters elected former interim NOPD Superintendent Michelle Woodfork to replace Hutson on Oct. 11, 2025, with 53% of the vote, avoiding a runoff. Hutson had suspended her re-election campaign weeks after the jailbreak.

What Happens Next

Hutson and Brown are both expected at Thursday morning’s status hearing. Louisiana Department of Justice prosecutors are handling the case rather than the local district attorney’s office, and it will move forward in Orleans Criminal District Court.

Murrill said in her statement she has been in “productive conversations” with Sheriff-elect Woodfork about jail operations, facility security, and basic financial oversight required under state law. Woodfork is sworn in May 4 and inherits a department operating under a federal consent decree dating back to 2013.

The indictment is the latest in a string of public-corruption cases brought by Murrill’s office, which charged an East Baton Rouge City-Parish Council member with corruption-related counts in January.

You May Also Like...

• Federal Warnings Resurface After Jailbreak in New Orleans
• Watch as Orleans Parish Sheriff Refers to Prisoners Who Escaped as 'Spiders'