Former New Orleans police chief criticizes sheriff's 'checkered past' after jailbreak

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Former New Orleans Police Department Superintendent Ronal Serpas is criticizing what he described as New Orleans Parish Sheriff Susan Hutson's "checkered past" after 10 inmates escaped a parish jail last week.

Since the inmates escaped from a hole behind a toilet in a jail cell the morning of May 16, authorities have recaptured five and arrested one correctional officer in the jailbreak.

"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 Fox News Digital.

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

The escaped inmates, some of whom are charged with violent offenses, including murder, were being held in a minimum-custody site at the Orleans Parish prison. The jail is only at 60% staffing, and at the time of the escape, four supervisors and 36 staff members were monitoring 1,400 inmates, authorities said.

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