NEW ORLEANS, LA – Five inmates out of 10 that escaped from a New Orleans jail on Friday, May 16th, are still at large and as local and state law enforcement continue their searches, Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry says that Hungarian American billionaire George Soros is at least partly to blame.
According to the Daily Signal, as of Thursday afternoon, May 22nd, nearly a week after the escape, the Louisiana State Police confirmed that five inmates are still at large. A multistate manhunt remains ongoing after the inmates escaped after midnight from Orleans Parish Prison. A prison staff member is facing charges for allegedly assisting in the escape.
Landry pointed the finger at Soros saying, “This is what happens when George Soros funds New Orleans elections.” On Tuesday, May 19th, he expanded on his social media post while in an interview with NewsNation. He said that the jail falls under Sheriff Susan Hutson’s jurisdiction and he blamed Hutson and District Attorney Justin Williams for allowing the jail to become overcrowded.
He said that Hutson and Williams delay sentencing inmates, which keeps them in jail longer before they are actually transferred to a state facility. Landry said, “George Soros came over the last decade or so and spent a ton of money in the city of New Orleans, electing these progressive people. It’s like he came as Santa Claus, and inside his sack he put out a DA, a sheriff, and I think about six judges, and we have been having problems in that city ever since.”
According to public records, Soros personally contributed $220,000 to the Louisiana Justice & Public Safety PAC, which supported Williams’ campaign in 2020. PAC for justice, which supported Hutson’s 2021 campaign, received $150,000 from the Sixteen Thirty Fund. IRS records show that the Open Society Policy Center gave Sixteen Thirty Fund $23.8 million in 2021.
Donors other than Soros contribute to Open Society and donors besides Open Society contribute to Sixteen Thirty Four, but Soros does influence Sixteen Thirty Four’s philanthropy. Soros has spent money propping up local district attorneys across the country who campion a form of criminal justice reform that critics say takes a “soft-on-crime” approach and allows crime to fester.
Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill is investigating the escape while the Louisiana State Police lead the effort in catching the inmates. State Police Lt. Jared Sandifer said that police have arrested 32-year-old Cortnie Harris and 38-year-old Corvanntay Baptiste, who are the girlfriends of two escapees. Sandifer confirmed that Leo Tate, Harris’ boyfriend, remains at large while police captured Corey Boyd, Baptiste’s boyfriend.
Murrill’s office has arrested 33-year-old Sterling Williams, a technician at the jail. He has been charged with abetting the escape. Inmates tampered with a cell door and snuck out through a hole in the wall behind a metal toilet while Williams had stepped away for food after midnight. One of the inmates asked Williams to turn the water off in the cell from which the inmates later escaped.
Rather than reporting the inmate to a supervisor, Williams turned off the water, “allowing the inmates to carry out their scheme to successfully escape.” The district attorney called the escape “a complete failure of the most basic responsibilities entrusted to a sheriff or jail administrator.” Hutson has suspended her re-election campaign in the jailbreak’s aftermath.
Orleans Parish Sheriff’s Office Maj. Silas Phipps Jr. said the department was “underfunded, understaffed, and underpaid.” Murrill said, “Someone clearly dropped the ball and there’s no excuse for this.” When the inmates escaped, they left a message on the wall above the hole reading, “To Easy LoL.” The inmates were in jail on a variety of violent offenses including murder, aggravated assault with a firearm, and domestic abuse battery.”
