An employee of a Louisiana jail where 10 inmates escaped Friday has been charged with helping the inmates break free.
Sterling Williams, 33, a maintenance worker at the Orleans Parish jail, is being charged with cutting off water to a jail toilet so the inmates could pull it from the wall, Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill said, according to NBC News.
Williams faces 10 counts of principal to simple escape and one of malfeasance in office.
“Williams admitted to agents that one of the escapees advised him to turn the water off in the cell where the inmates escaped from,” Murrill said in a news release.
“Instead of reporting the inmate, Williams turned the water off as directed, allowing the inmates to carry out their scheme to successfully escape.”
WVUE-TV reported, based on sources it did not name, that Williams claimed an inmate threatened to shank him if he did not do as he was told.
Three cameras in that unit were reportedly offline, the station reported, noting that jail officials said defective locks could also have been a reason for the escape.
Officials said four employees of the jail have been placed on leave. It was not known whether Williams was included in that count, NBC reported.
A photo released by the sheriff’s office showed a hole in the wall behind the toilet.
🚨🇺🇸 JAILBREAK CHAOS: LOUISIANA INMATES ESCAPE THROUGH TOILET
One of the biggest prison breaks in U.S. history involved inmates crawling through the hole of a displaced toilet.
The jailbreak has proven to be so messy even the governor is roasting the jail and prosecutors for… pic.twitter.com/84ZFcemQhy
— Mario Nawfal (@MarioNawfal) May 19, 2025
Four inmates had been captured as of Tuesday morning. More than 200 members of local law enforcement are looking for the escapees.
Orleans Parish District Attorney Jason Williams said the inmates had significant inside help.
“Ten violent offenders don’t make their way into a pod made for two and make good their escape through concrete, rebar and barbed wire, without there being some sort of inside assistance,” Williams said, according to ABC News.
🚨BREAKING: Louisiana jail worker ARRESTED for allegedly helping 10 inmates ESCAPE from Orleans Parish facility! 🚨
TEN INMATES busted out of a New Orleans jail on FRIDAY. 🤯
Internal corruption, zero accountability, and now a full-blown jailbreak. 🏃♂️💨 pic.twitter.com/Z3kjvTBrGq
— Rafael Santiago (@RaphySantiag) May 20, 2025
Asked why a jail employee would help the inmates, Williams said, “Don’t know — greed, avarice, friendship, the motives that cause men to do bad things.”
From the first, officials said they believed the escape was facilitated from within.
“We have the indication that these detainees received assistance in their escape from inside our department,” Orleans Parish Sheriff Susan Hutson said last week.
“It’s almost impossible — not completely — but almost impossible for anybody to get out of this facility without help from the outside,” he said.
“We will uncover all the facts eventually and anyone who aided and abetted will be prosecuted to the full extent the law allows,” Murrill said in her Tuesday statement.
“I encourage anyone who knows anything and even those who may have provided assistance to come forward now to obtain the best possible outcome in their particular case,” she said.
Of the six escapees at large, one has been convicted of murder and three are charged with homicide, according to WVUE.
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