June 12, 2025 • 39 mins
In this episode Kiran Chawla and Jim Chapman update you on the Louisiana Manhunt for the last two of ten inmates who escaped The Orleans Parish Jail. They discuss the up to the second updates as well as a discussion into the cost to track them.
Chapters
01:23 The national response.
05:07 Inside help and planning.
10:16 The status of the fugitives.
12:55 Social media missteps.
15:43 The budget implications.
19:54 The systemic issues revealed.
25:36 Consequences of the escape.
35:49 The ongoing search.
Tags: #louisianaunfiltered #kiranchawla #podcast #unfilteredwithkiran #news #crime #louisiana #prison #jail #escape
Local Sponsors for this episode include:
Neighbors Federal Credit Union:
Another Chance Bail Bonds:
Sound and Editing for this audio podcast by Envision Podcast Production:
Chapters
01:23 The national response.
05:07 Inside help and planning.
10:16 The status of the fugitives.
12:55 Social media missteps.
15:43 The budget implications.
19:54 The systemic issues revealed.
25:36 Consequences of the escape.
35:49 The ongoing search.
Tags: #louisianaunfiltered #kiranchawla #podcast #unfilteredwithkiran #news #crime #louisiana #prison #jail #escape
Local Sponsors for this episode include:
Neighbors Federal Credit Union:
Another Chance Bail Bonds:
Sound and Editing for this audio podcast by Envision Podcast Production:
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:13):
It's a story that originated right here in our backyard
and has now garnered national attention. A prison escape, but
it's not just one inmate. Instead, it's ten inmates, all
escaping at one time. Two of them remain on the run,
(00:34):
and I'll even say one of them is almost teasing
law enforcement by posting pictures and videos to social media.
How were ten people able to escape the parish prison
in Orleans Parish. We're going to delve into that. We're
(00:57):
also going to break down how they initially thought it
was eleven inmates who escaped. I'm Karen Challa and this
is Louisiana Unfiltered. Welcome back everyone. This week, we are
(01:26):
joined by my fellow podcaster and friend, producer as well
of multiple podcasts. We're gonna say exposed for now, but
he's got several podcasts as well, Jim Chapman. Thank you
for joining us.
Speaker 2 (01:42):
Thank you for having me. I'm excited to talk today.
Speaker 3 (01:46):
Where do we.
Speaker 1 (01:47):
Start, Jim? I feel like we almost need to start
with how does this even happen? Ten people at one time?
Speaker 2 (01:54):
Yeah, that's the question. And as much as you and
I would love the answer to that question, it seems
like the entire country once he answer to that question.
As you said in your intro, this has become national news,
especially considering they have not all been caught yet.
Speaker 1 (02:12):
Yeah, and in fact, Jim, I'll even tell you a
personal story. Obviously, we're bent roots based, and in the
beginning when all this happened, we did not cover it.
It's New Orleans. But the day that they discovered it happened,
News Nation texted and said are you covering this? Yeah,
like it made national news immediately. There was no let's
(02:32):
wait till the following week. This same day, obviously, we're
talking about it now because what it's been three weeks
and you still have inmates who.
Speaker 2 (02:43):
Are on the run, still on the run. And you know,
when this first hit the news, it was not just
the Orleans Pairs sheriff coming out and holding a press conference.
The governor came out, Yes, the Attorney General, Liz Muraal
came out with a press conference. This was a big deal.
(03:03):
These were not people that were arrested for jaywalking busting
out of city jail. This was people for murder, suspicion
of murder, rape. There was a lot of accusations involved,
and as you mentioned in the intro. Initially they weren't
even sure how many got out.
Speaker 3 (03:25):
That just baffles me. How do you not know?
Speaker 1 (03:28):
And I understand we're going to break all this down, Jen,
but I understand that in today's day and age, a
lot of parish prisons and obviously we're parishes here in Louisiana,
but county jails and prisons across the country. They're all
struggling with a lack of money to update the prisons.
And when I say update, I don't mean just have
(03:48):
enough for the capacity. I mean for the infrastructure to
be improved. Yes, I feel like that's half the problem.
But staffing wise, how do you miscount?
Speaker 2 (04:00):
Yeah? Well, and there was a lot that went wrong
here that we're discovering in your absolutely correct budget. Concerns
are a concern. The last thing any system wants to
pay for is prisons. Last thing they want to pay
for because you're housing, you're paying tax dollars for someone
that broke the law and they get thrown in prison,
(04:22):
they're convicted of awful crimes, and you don't want to
have to pay for that. Nope, something that you have
to do as a society is keep up your prisons
because things like this can happen. So initially when this happened,
it made all the news and it was eleven people
that escaped. Then they discovered that one person was actually
(04:44):
moved to another part of the prison and did not escape.
Speaker 1 (04:47):
It's embarrassing, it really is. We all know the history
of n OPD and that I personally feel. And again
this is completely Ker and Troll's opinion, not a fact.
That the reason the governor got involved and the attorney
general got involved is because how do we put makeup
on this black guy?
Speaker 2 (05:06):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (05:06):
Yeah, and we have to hurry up and get a
hold of it.
Speaker 2 (05:10):
A quick catch up on exactly how this happened. Initially,
these these convicts escaped jail. They went through a hole
in a They actually pulled the back of a toilet off,
made a hole went through that went over a gate.
They were able to get out of their cells because
(05:31):
the locks they were so antiquated. They were able to
bust the locks in one way or another. Now, they
did have some help on the inside. They arrested an
individual allegedly who helped them, and this individual was supposedly
threatened they were going to shank him if he did
not turn the water off. He was not a correctional officer.
(05:51):
He was a guy that worked maintenance at the prison,
and he turned the water off and that enabled them
to make their escape. This was planned. This was not
something on the spart of a moment in the video.
When you watch the video, you see these guys just
tugging on these gates and busting locks, and yeah, that's
a budget problem. But the other problem was, as you
(06:14):
just mentioned the count, they were on the lease for
like hours before they even realized it.
Speaker 1 (06:21):
And that's a long time.
Speaker 2 (06:23):
That's a major issue. Yeah, that's a long time. You
can get a long way with ours, Yeah, which is
what they were discovering. A lot of these have made
it a long way. A few of them they were
able to catch, you know, a couple of them were
strolling right there in French Quarter, rolling down Bourbon Street
in facial recognition. Thankfully in New Orleans recognize these guys
(06:47):
and caught them essentially.
Speaker 1 (06:49):
I know one was caught in Houston. Yeah, two two
were caught in Houston. And I laughed because I've got
friends out in that direction, and I think we're going
to talk about this. One of the escaped inmates who's
still out there and is posting videos and pictures. The
joke is, okay, Houston PD, get your stuff together, they're
(07:13):
one of the best in the country. Yeah, that, let's
figure out where they are. And they jokingly said.
Speaker 3 (07:18):
We already called two four of them. How many more
you want us to keep catching?
Speaker 1 (07:22):
That's why I chuckled, Yeah, that's true, it is.
Speaker 2 (07:25):
And they actually went on a pretty major car chase
to catch those guys, and what they were finding out
and discovering at the beginning was there was a lot
of help on the outside. The Governor, Jeff Landry came
out and did his press conference. Of course, the police
knew these guys are likely going to have some help.
They're going to call friends, family, and he said, if
(07:48):
you're caught, we're not holding back. We're going to charge
you to the farthest extent of the law for helping
these guys, which I found very interesting in luck rewards
right now, fifty thousand dollars for the final two information
leading to their arrest. It's a lot a lot of
people will look at you and say you're my boy,
(08:08):
But for fifty g's I'm calling the police.
Speaker 1 (08:11):
Yeah, absolutely, you've got the governor saying this. Yeah, but
then when they're getting arrested as an accomplice, and this
is one of the reports that we covered, the guy
got out for a fifteen thousand dollars bond. Remember you
only have to pay twelve percent. That's just over fifteen
hundred dollars. Right, So you can say one thing, governor,
(08:34):
but the judges are doing something completely different.
Speaker 2 (08:36):
Yeah, yeah, well, and you said it right. At the
end of the day, it's up to the judge just
set that bond. I don't know what they're actually being
charged with, these accomplices. And if you know that fifteen
thousand dollars is about the max of what you can
charge someone, it may be in that position, which means
we need stifferent laws for people who are aiding into
(08:58):
betting fugitives in a lot of cases, making it possible
for these guys to escape. Ten of them, folks, wrap
your mind around them.
Speaker 1 (09:07):
And that's what I was going to say. So let's start.
We keep almost teasing the viewership the listeners that this
is what all we're going to talk about.
Speaker 3 (09:14):
Let's start with the basics.
Speaker 1 (09:15):
It's May sixteenth, Yeah, and around eight o'clock is when
officials learn hey, we're missing. They initially set eleven inmates, right, could.
Speaker 2 (09:26):
You imagine making that call to the you know, the sheriff. No, yeah,
me neither. And as soon as that hit the wire
there was maybe a It wasn't long between the time
they discovered them missing and the sheriff coming out and
reporting it. So they were on top of it pretty quick,
which is important because the public then could be on
(09:48):
the lookout. Right, you release pictures of these guys, these
are who they are, you need to look for them.
So it wasn't something where they could say, Okay, how
can we spend this so that it doesn't look so bad?
Because the more time you delay in letting the public
and none of those guys are out, the more time they
have to commit another crime, and the more time they
(10:08):
have to hide.
Speaker 1 (10:09):
And like you already said, these were some pretty armed
and well I don't know armed dangerous and for all
we know, they may be armed now, but these are
some dangerous men, all of them. And they weren't in,
like you said, for stealing a dog.
Speaker 3 (10:26):
No, they're in for murder.
Speaker 2 (10:28):
And that was another big problem. They were in a
light a lighter security wing. So you had some that
one of them was involved in it. Had a conviction
for second degree murder, which likely was a plea deol
down to second degree. He was involved in a shooting
in the French quarter. They killed somebody. That guy was
(10:50):
on the escaped and he was in a lighter wing
of the prison as far as security.
Speaker 1 (10:56):
Is concerned, and second degree is life behind.
Speaker 2 (10:58):
Bars, right, and they definitely had some splaining to do
on why these guys were in medium and lighter security
wings of that prison.
Speaker 3 (11:09):
And Jimmy Jail.
Speaker 1 (11:10):
A lot of that conversation hasn't even started yet because
the focus is still trying to figure out where these
last two inmates are.
Speaker 2 (11:18):
Derrick Groves who is one of the two inmates still missing.
He's twenty eight years old. He was convicted of second
degree murder. He is still on the lease now. He
has not been seen since the day of the escape,
has not been seen by the public. So wherever he's hiding,
he's in a good hiding spot if you will, no sightings.
Speaker 1 (11:41):
But the second guy is not the.
Speaker 2 (11:44):
Smartest antwine massy, and yeah, he can't stay off social media.
This guy is has actually almost become a meme, a character.
If you will. Some people are placing bets as if
this was Las Vegas on who's gonna get caught first?
Is he gonna get away with us and never be
seen again? That The thing that is so intriguing about
(12:07):
Massy is that he is a guy that could not
blend in anywhere in the world. He has face tattoos.
If he was standing in front of you right now,
you would know right away that's Antoine Massey. The fact
that he is still on the loose is shocking enough
because of his identifying features. But one makes it really
(12:27):
wild is this is his third escape. Yeah, he's an
escape artist.
Speaker 1 (12:33):
He knew what he was doing. And I guess again,
some of these answers are gonna come out later. I
almost want to know who's the brains behind this, and
I wouldn't be surprised if it's him.
Speaker 2 (12:42):
It very well could be. And you know, he was
charged with domestic abuse and auto theft. That's what he
was in. That's what he was in Orleans Paris jail four.
He had not been convicted yet. But the scary thing
here is, assuming he is guilty of the charges, there's
someone out there that he domestically abused that you know. I. Yeah,
(13:06):
I feel for him because until he's caught, they're not
gonna feel safe.
Speaker 1 (13:11):
And we you and I were talking about this beforehand,
that the latest pictures show him with the rockets in Houston.
Speaker 3 (13:19):
Yeah, I think that's to throw people off.
Speaker 2 (13:22):
Yeah, I don't think he would. You know, if you
if you're an escape convict and you go to Gatlinburg, Tennessee,
you're not gonna wear a Gatlinburg, Tennessee T shirt. But
the police know that. I mean they're smart enough to know.
I don't think they're gonna say, oh, he's wearing a
Houston Rocket shirt. We know right where because he was
in the whole garb. The shorts were Houston Rockets, the
(13:43):
cap was Houston Rockets. He's basically saying, come to Houston.
So if he's in the Houston, Wow, that's pretty for
all we I think.
Speaker 1 (13:52):
If I don't trust the trust the system, for all
we know it's artificial intelligence.
Speaker 2 (13:58):
You know you're right, because that's the scary thing with AI. Yes,
that is the scary thing with AI. Now, one thing
that I can tell you about Massy in particular is
the reason it's such a bad idea to place videos
and pictures of yourself outside of just the fact that
you're doing it. Is if you take a picture, there's
(14:21):
a way to decipher where that picture was taken just
by looking at the picture, just by taking it and
loading it into program, and it'll say this was taken
at three zero two pm at you know, in Baton Orage, Louisiana.
Speaker 1 (14:35):
But then that's that's why I'm a lot of confused.
Why hasn't he been caught yet?
Speaker 2 (14:42):
Great question? And you look, if you would have told
me a month ago before this happened, that ten people,
not only ten people would escape, but two would still
be on the run, I would say there's no way.
And when you ask me why, I would say technology
is too good these days. You have license plate readers,
you have facial wrucking me readers. No one can get
away for this long.
Speaker 1 (15:03):
And then even backgrounds, Jim, I mean, look at all
the programs that are out there now the same thing. Yeah,
that background, for all we know is artificial intelligence.
Speaker 2 (15:12):
Yeah he is.
Speaker 1 (15:14):
That may not even be him talking, No, it may
be he uploaded a photo, but it goes right back
to it. We have all these Internet Crimes Task Force,
the Attorney General's got multiple task force, and you would
be able to see where he accessed a phone or
a computer unless he's at Billy Bob Joe's house and
(15:38):
he's using Billy Bob Joe's cell phone. I don't know.
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Speaker 2 (17:06):
I'm the same way, And you know they they had
a sighting of him that someone had called in from Natchez, Mississippi. However,
they were never able to confirm it was him because
when they got there they couldn't find him. So if
he was in that area, he was gone. They swept
that area and the Natchist police said he ain't here anymore.
(17:27):
If he was, uh so that was the only sighting
of Massy that anyone had. But it really is something
that calls into question not only the budgeting concerns you
brought up, but also the employee concerns. I mean, how
did these counts get missed? This makes the national news
and everybody is on this thing, and what happens somebody
(17:49):
from tan Chapahoe Parish escapes jail.
Speaker 3 (17:53):
I thought that was a joke.
Speaker 1 (17:54):
I really did. When I saw that press release coming unbelievable.
In my head, I'm thinking you're kidding me right now,
like wa, wait, what's happening? So of course they come
in waves of three. So in my head, I'm thinking, Okay,
where's the next escape happening from?
Speaker 2 (18:07):
Yep, And it happened. Tangy had two escapes, they really did.
Like what Yeah, and look the guy that escaped initially
from Tangy Parish jail. This guy had escaped before. As
a matter of fact, he escaped the year before from
the same prison.
Speaker 3 (18:26):
Yes, how does that happen?
Speaker 2 (18:29):
Well?
Speaker 1 (18:29):
And again I think it goes back to Jim that
so many of these systems are struggling when it comes
to getting that revenue. And I get that.
Speaker 3 (18:42):
We as Louisian.
Speaker 1 (18:44):
Unions, I think are sick and tired of being taxed.
And when I say that, I can say the we
number one I live here, but number two covering it
in our immediate area. Recently, any text that has gone
on in ballot it is getting rejected left and right. Yes,
it does not matter what it is for. People are
(19:06):
sick and tired of being taxed. And I think for
so long Americans understood and said, Okay, fine, Breck, you
need money, we get it.
Speaker 3 (19:14):
Okay, school systems.
Speaker 1 (19:16):
You need money fire departments. Okay, now it's like ten percent.
I mean East spun Riage Parish is one of the
highest taxed ten point five percent and it is straight
up nope, nope, nope, nope, nope, nope, nope. And I
know this because the East spun Rouge Parish prison, it's deplorable,
it is disgusting, and we constantly got complaints about the
(19:40):
AC's not working.
Speaker 3 (19:41):
And I get it.
Speaker 1 (19:42):
The inmates in there, and a lot of people might say,
are you serious, right now, they do have rights. The
goal is not to kill them. You are innocent until
proven guilty. They still have to have lowble conditions in there,
and in the heat when Louisiana hits those summer months,
you've got to have air condition So it's those basic
things that a sheriff can't even almost supply. And I
(20:07):
know it's temporary. The AC went out, whatnot, But think
about it. If they had all this money, they wouldn't
keep putting band aid on this little bitty problem. You
would eventually say, hey, let's go ahead and put this
money aside. We're building a new parish prison. Right that's
the local East Baton Rooge prison. That prision prison that
(20:27):
I can speak about because I know all that stuff personally.
Speaker 2 (20:30):
You've got to be right every time. If you're a sheriff,
an inmate has nothing to do all day long but
sit down and figure out how the heck am I
going to get out of here? You know, that's all
they've got to do. When you're a system, a prison system,
you have to make sure every day that every cat
is right. You've got to follow all the rules. You
(20:52):
got to make sure that your people are not bringing
in cell phones for inmates, bringing in drugs, all the
things that you hear about. Now, this is not just
a Louisiana problem. It's a national problem. As a matter
of fact, Arkansas just caught Grant Harden, who was a
former chief of police and a murderer in a rapist
(21:15):
of the worst form in Arkansas. He escaped for twelve
days from a maximum security prison in Arkansas. Just got
caught about three days ago. And this guy was only
a mile away from the prison the whole time. Now
it's Arkansas, these it's very mountainous there, and he had
(21:35):
a lot of places to hide.
Speaker 1 (21:37):
Well, as a former police chief, you kind of.
Speaker 2 (21:40):
He walked right out the front door he made himself
a uniform and walked right out the front. Someone opened
the gate for him to let him out. I mean,
you can't make that stuff up. And it's funny, but
it's not. It's it's certainly not funny, but it's mind blowing.
The the planning that this guy made to get out,
And that's the whole point. That's all these guys got
(22:01):
to do twenty four hours a day is figure out
how to get out. Yep.
Speaker 1 (22:04):
And all it takes is like I was saying earlier,
that the brainchild is one person coming to terms and saying, hey, guys,
we're gonna do this. We're gonna do this now. The
odd thing for me is why only ten How come
if it was happening, how come mosh going out?
Speaker 2 (22:20):
Yeah, well, I'm sure they wanted out, but maybe some
of them in there give them a little credit for
maybe having some sense and saying I ain't doing that.
You know, they're gonna they're probably, like all of us,
thought they'd get caught by the next day. And now
you've got two years added to a sentence, which I
don't think stuff enough for escape incidentally, but that'll take
(22:40):
a lot of law changes and I do want to
mention so Antoine Massey, we talked about the video he
posted and for people out there that don't realize in
this video he was imploring help from certain peoples. As
a matter of fact, Kim Kardashian, Yeah, the President of
the United States Trump NB a young boy and Meek Mill.
(23:04):
He wanted you know, he's saying, he's claiming this as
you know, he's completely innocent and all those sorts of things,
and they need to help him. I wouldn't if I
was him. I wouldn't wait by my phone for that
call from from any of these people.
Speaker 1 (23:20):
The president had just pardoned and be a young boy, Yeah,
which I think the day before.
Speaker 2 (23:26):
Yeah, it might have been the day before.
Speaker 1 (23:27):
So I don't know if that adds to it.
Speaker 2 (23:30):
I'm sure it played a role. Yeah, I'm sure it
played a role.
Speaker 1 (23:33):
I just I still have a very tough time wrapping
my head around the whole video and pictures.
Speaker 2 (23:39):
And yeah, it's not what I would choose to do
if I was on the run. I mean, I wouldn't.
I wouldn't do anything that could link me to anything.
I wouldn't want anybody with a cell phone around me
because you can try cell phones, but yet on the
least he still remains. And you know, there's a whole
other side to this outside of that that just the
(24:02):
past couple of days has come out speaking of budgets,
and that's the cost this is now costing to chase
these guys. Two hundred state policemen right now are specifically
employed to find them. They have taken them off everything
else and said you are on the hunt. Not only that,
(24:22):
you've got the ATF involved, you've got the FBI involved,
all these agencies working to catch these guys. Specifically. That
is not cheap. That's expensive. There's a lot of overtime
being paid. Who pays for that? We do? If you're
caught or when you're caught, you're obviously not going back
(24:44):
to the same jail you escape from. All of eight
of the ten that have been caught have all went
to in goal On. Yeah, that's not where they want
to That's not where you want to end up.
Speaker 1 (24:58):
If sides on one.
Speaker 2 (25:02):
They're sitting in in Gola. So you're right, it is
a black eye on the system. And you've basically bitten
the bear now and the bear saying okay, I'm gonna
put you in in Gola where there is no air conditioner. Uh,
you're gonna be working a field, slinging a you know,
a hoe for the for the next I don't know
(25:22):
how many years you.
Speaker 3 (25:23):
Have murder was life?
Speaker 1 (25:26):
Yeah, if your second degree and you're already convicted, you
have life in prison. So adding two more years, well,
it's not really gonna.
Speaker 2 (25:33):
Do much for us, That's that's right.
Speaker 1 (25:35):
But like you said, in Gola and for our listeners
who don't know this, And Jim would be the best
person to talk about this with his other podcast, Bloody
in Gola. That and Gola is on three sides around it.
Speaker 3 (25:49):
Yeah, rounded, natural.
Speaker 1 (25:51):
Carriers, snake infested waters.
Speaker 2 (25:55):
It's eighteen thousand acres and size uh and some of
the roughest terrain you'll find in Louisiana. You're not getting
out of Angola. You know, you can get out of
the wire as they call it. You may get out
of that razor wire and get beyond that gate, and
there's very few who have been able to do that.
But unless you have a vehicle, you're not hiking out
(26:17):
of there. The gators a get you of the wolves,
A get you of the bears. Whatever. But it's a
prison that is a lot harsher than Orleans Paris jail.
And so those guys, even the ones that were only
going for you know, there were a few that were
caught the next day.
Speaker 3 (26:35):
Up they're caught.
Speaker 2 (26:36):
They're caught, and now they're in Angola. And now they've
got two years added to their sentence. And you're with
the big boys. Now you're with the real prisoners.
Speaker 1 (26:43):
Now, between the cadaver dogs and those West fully Siana,
they are used to it. They know, they have a
system in place that when an escape happens, they know
where they're going, they know what they're doing.
Speaker 3 (26:55):
And between those.
Speaker 1 (26:56):
Cadaver dogs, you're really not going to stay escaped very
very long.
Speaker 2 (26:59):
No you're not. And as of now, twenty five days
as of this recording, that these guys have been on
the run, Massy and growths, that's unbelievable. That is to me,
that is where is Massy and fifty thousand dollars now
(27:22):
each on their heads. Somebody has got to turn them in.
You can't tell me you've got that many little friends. Seriously,
I mean their rider dies now because for fifty g's
a lot of people would turn you in. Your own
family might turn you in for fifty thousand.
Speaker 1 (27:38):
Well, there are two more important things that I want
to touch on. Number One, I applaud the Orleans Parish
Sheriff for not hiding, not trying to put a put
lipstick on this specific pig. And in this case, Jim,
which the whole reason is that you can use the
(28:02):
media to your benefit law enforcement when you're out there
and you have something like this happen. And I get
it in today's day and age with social media, but
even on social media, law enforcement has the people that
follow their pages. The mainstream media is like the WWL,
the WDSUS. Now it's all national. Those were the local
(28:23):
New Orleans stations. They can get it out a lot
faster to a lot more people. Let me bring up
the other issue when it comes to I guess you
could almost call it a budget issue, but it's kind
of like appeeling back an onion, Jim that at the
end of the day, people are not wanting to do
law enforcement anymore. And this is a national problem, a big, big,
(28:48):
big time problem, from.
Speaker 3 (28:49):
The state level to the federal level.
Speaker 1 (28:53):
To the local levels, and trickle them down to the
small towns. They're all struggling to get people who want
to be police officers.
Speaker 2 (29:03):
That's right, and I think there's a lot of reasons
for that. The look the culture. When I grew up
in the eighties, if you were trick or treating on Halloween,
you were a police officer. If you you know, you
are a police officer or fireman. I can tell you that,
as as an adult who had kids who trick or
(29:26):
treated and all these sorts of things, when I would
pass out candy. In the last five six years, very
few police officers and that told me a lot. The
culture has changed there. There is no one on the
face of this earth more pro police than me, no one.
I have more respect for the good police officers in
(29:48):
this country than anyone. The rest that they take for
complete strangers. I will never be able to write my
mind around the heroism that it takes, the bravery, all
those sorts of things. They run, They run to what
everybody else runs away from andy and they don't hesitate.
(30:10):
They don't get paid enough.
Speaker 1 (30:13):
Major problem putting your life on the line, putting.
Speaker 2 (30:15):
Your life on the line every day, and with social media,
they get crucified every time you turn around. Oh God forbid,
they pull someone over that, uh, you know, the next thing,
you know, it's it's something completely different than take out
the fact the person was going one hundred miles an hour,
(30:35):
you know, and they had every right to pull them over. Uh.
They get crucified for those things. And there's good and
bad in every profession. And absolutely there's bad police officers
that don't need to be police office.
Speaker 1 (30:45):
We've covered them left and rights.
Speaker 2 (30:47):
One hundred percent. But I would say the vast majority
are good, hard working people that are out there risking
their life every day so that you and I can
just go about our day and not feel like, you know,
we're not safe.
Speaker 1 (31:02):
You know, if you sit down and talk to the
former Baton Ridge Police Chief, Pat Nglade, who was chief
during a very tatuous time for Baton Riage during the
Derek Todd Lee serial killer days, he will tell you that.
Speaker 3 (31:17):
And then prior to him was Greg Fairies as the chief.
Speaker 1 (31:20):
But they will both tell you that to get into
the academy for Baton Roach PD, it was so long
that you would almost pray that you make the list,
you make the cutoff, But no, they had an option
to choose which officer was the best of the best.
Speaker 2 (31:42):
Yeah, they could pick and choose.
Speaker 3 (31:44):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (31:45):
Now, the latest B or PD academy that graduated, take
a guess how many people.
Speaker 3 (31:50):
It was fifteen seven? Wow, it started with more.
Speaker 1 (31:56):
You had some people who just couldn't do it, their
backgrounds didn't pass. You had one or two that were
like deuces, I'm out, I can't do all this. Seven graduated. Well,
when you only have seven gym at the end of
the day, you've got to put those seven to work.
So now translate this to Orleans Parish. It's the sheriff's office.
(32:18):
It's the same thing with the deputies there. They're struggling.
The jail is almost a spot where you put intro
level absolutely deputies or people deputies who have been disciplined
for possible wrongdoing go to the jail. So then you
have people like the maintenance person who was saying that
he was threatened and he's fearing for his life.
Speaker 3 (32:41):
So he turned off the water.
Speaker 1 (32:42):
Yeah, and I guess that was a long version, which
is why we have a podcast that to peeling back
the onion that it's not just a simple answer as
to what really went wrong here.
Speaker 2 (32:53):
Right, Yeah, there is no simple answer, But I think
as a society, and especially locally as Louisianians here, we
really need to look into the issue of hiring police
officers and getting good qualified candidates. You know, used to
(33:18):
be a lot of pride if you were a detective
in a police organization and you're out there and you're
hunting for truth. Right now, these people with the brain
power and capacity to do that are choosing to be
dentist or doctors, or or a million other professions because
I feel like, for far too long, not only monetarily
(33:40):
are at police officers not being compensated, but also the
culture has just become where it's almost you're bad if
you're a police officer, you're a bad person.
Speaker 1 (33:50):
Well, and it's I would add to that that I
think there are men and women out there who still say,
we'll do it.
Speaker 2 (33:57):
We love it.
Speaker 1 (33:58):
My dad did it, my grandfather did it. It's in
the family, my uncle's everybody's police. This is all I
want to do. It's not even the money that's going
to stop them. What's going to stop them is, like
you said, when that chase happens, the suspects going one
hundred miles an hour, h he crashes out, he gets out,
he raises an AR fifteen and tries to shoot a
(34:20):
police officer. Officer returns fire kills him.
Speaker 3 (34:23):
Who's the bad.
Speaker 2 (34:23):
Guy, Well, the guy would that tried to shave the
police officer?
Speaker 1 (34:28):
No, the officer is the officer killed a person.
Speaker 2 (34:32):
Yeah, that's the mentality perception.
Speaker 3 (34:35):
Going on right now.
Speaker 1 (34:36):
Any human being, if you have a gun in your
hands and someone's shooting you, what are you going to do?
Speaker 2 (34:42):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (34:43):
So I know it's it's a long conversation here, but hey,
that's what podcasting is.
Speaker 2 (34:48):
It's a worthwhile conversation, it answeration. It's you know, the
podcasts are all about giving someone the opportunity to think
about that situation and how hoefully there's some listeners to
this that are singing that side of things, because there's
a lot of things that need to be tightened up,
especially with our correctional system. Obviously, it's not a Louisiana problem.
(35:14):
It's a national problem. It happens in every state. Maybe
not to this, I'm out. I mean, I gotta say,
you know, Tim might beat the record. I don't know.
Speaker 3 (35:23):
I know in Louisiana is that Yeah.
Speaker 2 (35:25):
In Louisiana, as far as anybody's been able to find
that is the largest escape in the history of Louisiana.
Speaker 3 (35:32):
Presence that's worthy of a black guy.
Speaker 1 (35:34):
Jim.
Speaker 2 (35:35):
Yeah, Oh, it certainly is. And heads rolling in all
those sorts of things definitely is. And you know, like
I said, maybe all we can hope for is some
good to come out of this with. Maybe they'll shore
up that jail now and really look into the mistakes
and fix them. That's what we hope.
Speaker 1 (35:55):
Yeah, and I hope these next two people, I say
next to these other two people are caught soon. Because
don't laugh at me when I say this, But I
remember watching a documentary on Alcatraz and the three guys
who escaped, and and I cannot remember the name of
this documentary, but the way they pretty much brought to
(36:18):
life how these people got out and it was just
a few hours of a heads up. I'm sorry, it
was just a few hours where they were able to
escape and nobody realized it a few if I remember correctly.
Speaker 2 (36:33):
Yeah, it was the Angler brothers, yes, and Eastwood, but
that but that made but that.
Speaker 3 (36:42):
Made the biggest difference. I want to say. It was
like three hours pay cash on a rock.
Speaker 2 (36:47):
You're surrounded by water, either like on Alcatraz. I mean
you can get a long way. Yes, uh yeah, it
really is. And they're supposed to be those counts like
every hour. I mean, this is uh common practice in
just about every prison.
Speaker 1 (37:02):
Mistakes were made and that's why I'm saying that. I
think a lot more is going to come out here.
But the focus right now, I would assume is we
need to get these other two back.
Speaker 3 (37:12):
That would be the top focus.
Speaker 1 (37:14):
Of course, I'm sure they're already tightening up inside that Hey,
you better make sure you're counting on the hour. Has
that come out to the media. Has the sheriff made
that very very clear to the media. No, and that's
not her priority right this minute.
Speaker 2 (37:28):
That's right, that's right. And look for all those guys
that are in in the jail now, and you know,
some of them are probably like, yeah, you go, you
got out of prison, you beat the system. They ain't
loving them right now because your life just got twenty
times harder than it was a month ago. Because now
everybody's eyes on you twenty four hours a day, and
(37:50):
it is.
Speaker 1 (37:50):
Worthy of national news because at this point we don't
know where they are, right they.
Speaker 2 (37:55):
Could be anywhere, they could they you know, they could
be all the way in California. By now, they already
caught several in Texas, so I mean they were across
state lines, and once you break out of the state,
you've got a lot better chance of getting away with
it because the press just isn't even though it's a
(38:15):
national story, it's not covered as heavy in Arkansas as
it is in Louisiana.
Speaker 1 (38:20):
It's on the national news, right, it's not on the
local Fayetteville correct CBS station.
Speaker 2 (38:26):
Exactly.
Speaker 1 (38:27):
You can go sit at a diner and you have
no idea who the person is next to you. I mean,
you know who lives in your small town. But I
mean to say, if there is a stranger you may
not recognize. Hey, wait, this is an escaped in meat.
Speaker 2 (38:38):
Yeah, that's right. That's the shocking thing to me about
Massy because if you see his picture one time, he
just stands out to you. Anywhere in the country, you're
gonna notice a guy with that many tats on his face,
You're gonna notice it. It's gonna stand out. And he's
been select so far.
Speaker 1 (38:58):
Wow, well, Jim, did we kind of cover everything?
Speaker 2 (39:01):
I think we did. I think we did.
Speaker 1 (39:04):
Thank you so much for joining us, and if you
haven't already, guys, go listen. Jim is a podcast king
from Bloodying Gola to Local Leaders, which is a big
podcast that's done mainly locally to focus on some of
the local businesses and leaders. And then obviously the one
that's just taken off is exposed.
Speaker 2 (39:25):
Yeah yeah, give you the maybe a little bit of
the tea on some of these rich and famous in
our country.
Speaker 1 (39:32):
So go take a listen to those and to our listeners,
we thank you for joining us for this week's episode
of Louisiana Unfiltered and we will see you next week.
It's a story that originated right here in our backyard
and has now garnered national attention. A prison escape, but
it's not just one inmate. Instead, it's ten inmates, all
escaping at one time. Two of them remain on the run,
(00:34):
and I'll even say one of them is almost teasing
law enforcement by posting pictures and videos to social media.
How were ten people able to escape the parish prison
in Orleans Parish. We're going to delve into that. We're
(00:57):
also going to break down how they initially thought it
was eleven inmates who escaped. I'm Karen Challa and this
is Louisiana Unfiltered. Welcome back everyone. This week, we are
(01:26):
joined by my fellow podcaster and friend, producer as well
of multiple podcasts. We're gonna say exposed for now, but
he's got several podcasts as well, Jim Chapman. Thank you
for joining us.
Speaker 2 (01:42):
Thank you for having me. I'm excited to talk today.
Speaker 3 (01:46):
Where do we.
Speaker 1 (01:47):
Start, Jim? I feel like we almost need to start
with how does this even happen? Ten people at one time?
Speaker 2 (01:54):
Yeah, that's the question. And as much as you and
I would love the answer to that question, it seems
like the entire country once he answer to that question.
As you said in your intro, this has become national news,
especially considering they have not all been caught yet.
Speaker 1 (02:12):
Yeah, and in fact, Jim, I'll even tell you a
personal story. Obviously, we're bent roots based, and in the
beginning when all this happened, we did not cover it.
It's New Orleans. But the day that they discovered it happened,
News Nation texted and said are you covering this? Yeah,
like it made national news immediately. There was no let's
(02:32):
wait till the following week. This same day, obviously, we're
talking about it now because what it's been three weeks
and you still have inmates who.
Speaker 2 (02:43):
Are on the run, still on the run. And you know,
when this first hit the news, it was not just
the Orleans Pairs sheriff coming out and holding a press conference.
The governor came out, Yes, the Attorney General, Liz Muraal
came out with a press conference. This was a big deal.
(03:03):
These were not people that were arrested for jaywalking busting
out of city jail. This was people for murder, suspicion
of murder, rape. There was a lot of accusations involved,
and as you mentioned in the intro. Initially they weren't
even sure how many got out.
Speaker 3 (03:25):
That just baffles me. How do you not know?
Speaker 1 (03:28):
And I understand we're going to break all this down, Jen,
but I understand that in today's day and age, a
lot of parish prisons and obviously we're parishes here in Louisiana,
but county jails and prisons across the country. They're all
struggling with a lack of money to update the prisons.
And when I say update, I don't mean just have
(03:48):
enough for the capacity. I mean for the infrastructure to
be improved. Yes, I feel like that's half the problem.
But staffing wise, how do you miscount?
Speaker 2 (04:00):
Yeah? Well, and there was a lot that went wrong
here that we're discovering in your absolutely correct budget. Concerns
are a concern. The last thing any system wants to
pay for is prisons. Last thing they want to pay
for because you're housing, you're paying tax dollars for someone
that broke the law and they get thrown in prison,
(04:22):
they're convicted of awful crimes, and you don't want to
have to pay for that. Nope, something that you have
to do as a society is keep up your prisons
because things like this can happen. So initially when this happened,
it made all the news and it was eleven people
that escaped. Then they discovered that one person was actually
(04:44):
moved to another part of the prison and did not escape.
Speaker 1 (04:47):
It's embarrassing, it really is. We all know the history
of n OPD and that I personally feel. And again
this is completely Ker and Troll's opinion, not a fact.
That the reason the governor got involved and the attorney
general got involved is because how do we put makeup
on this black guy?
Speaker 2 (05:06):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (05:06):
Yeah, and we have to hurry up and get a
hold of it.
Speaker 2 (05:10):
A quick catch up on exactly how this happened. Initially,
these these convicts escaped jail. They went through a hole
in a They actually pulled the back of a toilet off,
made a hole went through that went over a gate.
They were able to get out of their cells because
(05:31):
the locks they were so antiquated. They were able to
bust the locks in one way or another. Now, they
did have some help on the inside. They arrested an
individual allegedly who helped them, and this individual was supposedly
threatened they were going to shank him if he did
not turn the water off. He was not a correctional officer.
(05:51):
He was a guy that worked maintenance at the prison,
and he turned the water off and that enabled them
to make their escape. This was planned. This was not
something on the spart of a moment in the video.
When you watch the video, you see these guys just
tugging on these gates and busting locks, and yeah, that's
a budget problem. But the other problem was, as you
(06:14):
just mentioned the count, they were on the lease for
like hours before they even realized it.
Speaker 1 (06:21):
And that's a long time.
Speaker 2 (06:23):
That's a major issue. Yeah, that's a long time. You
can get a long way with ours, Yeah, which is
what they were discovering. A lot of these have made
it a long way. A few of them they were
able to catch, you know, a couple of them were
strolling right there in French Quarter, rolling down Bourbon Street
in facial recognition. Thankfully in New Orleans recognize these guys
(06:47):
and caught them essentially.
Speaker 1 (06:49):
I know one was caught in Houston. Yeah, two two
were caught in Houston. And I laughed because I've got
friends out in that direction, and I think we're going
to talk about this. One of the escaped inmates who's
still out there and is posting videos and pictures. The
joke is, okay, Houston PD, get your stuff together, they're
(07:13):
one of the best in the country. Yeah, that, let's
figure out where they are. And they jokingly said.
Speaker 3 (07:18):
We already called two four of them. How many more
you want us to keep catching?
Speaker 1 (07:22):
That's why I chuckled, Yeah, that's true, it is.
Speaker 2 (07:25):
And they actually went on a pretty major car chase
to catch those guys, and what they were finding out
and discovering at the beginning was there was a lot
of help on the outside. The Governor, Jeff Landry came
out and did his press conference. Of course, the police
knew these guys are likely going to have some help.
They're going to call friends, family, and he said, if
(07:48):
you're caught, we're not holding back. We're going to charge
you to the farthest extent of the law for helping
these guys, which I found very interesting in luck rewards
right now, fifty thousand dollars for the final two information
leading to their arrest. It's a lot a lot of
people will look at you and say you're my boy,
(08:08):
But for fifty g's I'm calling the police.
Speaker 1 (08:11):
Yeah, absolutely, you've got the governor saying this. Yeah, but
then when they're getting arrested as an accomplice, and this
is one of the reports that we covered, the guy
got out for a fifteen thousand dollars bond. Remember you
only have to pay twelve percent. That's just over fifteen
hundred dollars. Right, So you can say one thing, governor,
(08:34):
but the judges are doing something completely different.
Speaker 2 (08:36):
Yeah, yeah, well, and you said it right. At the
end of the day, it's up to the judge just
set that bond. I don't know what they're actually being
charged with, these accomplices. And if you know that fifteen
thousand dollars is about the max of what you can
charge someone, it may be in that position, which means
we need stifferent laws for people who are aiding into
(08:58):
betting fugitives in a lot of cases, making it possible
for these guys to escape. Ten of them, folks, wrap
your mind around them.
Speaker 1 (09:07):
And that's what I was going to say. So let's start.
We keep almost teasing the viewership the listeners that this
is what all we're going to talk about.
Speaker 3 (09:14):
Let's start with the basics.
Speaker 1 (09:15):
It's May sixteenth, Yeah, and around eight o'clock is when
officials learn hey, we're missing. They initially set eleven inmates, right, could.
Speaker 2 (09:26):
You imagine making that call to the you know, the sheriff. No, yeah,
me neither. And as soon as that hit the wire
there was maybe a It wasn't long between the time
they discovered them missing and the sheriff coming out and
reporting it. So they were on top of it pretty quick,
which is important because the public then could be on
(09:48):
the lookout. Right, you release pictures of these guys, these
are who they are, you need to look for them.
So it wasn't something where they could say, Okay, how
can we spend this so that it doesn't look so bad?
Because the more time you delay in letting the public
and none of those guys are out, the more time they
have to commit another crime, and the more time they
(10:08):
have to hide.
Speaker 1 (10:09):
And like you already said, these were some pretty armed
and well I don't know armed dangerous and for all
we know, they may be armed now, but these are
some dangerous men, all of them. And they weren't in,
like you said, for stealing a dog.
Speaker 3 (10:26):
No, they're in for murder.
Speaker 2 (10:28):
And that was another big problem. They were in a
light a lighter security wing. So you had some that
one of them was involved in it. Had a conviction
for second degree murder, which likely was a plea deol
down to second degree. He was involved in a shooting
in the French quarter. They killed somebody. That guy was
(10:50):
on the escaped and he was in a lighter wing
of the prison as far as security.
Speaker 1 (10:56):
Is concerned, and second degree is life behind.
Speaker 2 (10:58):
Bars, right, and they definitely had some splaining to do
on why these guys were in medium and lighter security
wings of that prison.
Speaker 3 (11:09):
And Jimmy Jail.
Speaker 1 (11:10):
A lot of that conversation hasn't even started yet because
the focus is still trying to figure out where these
last two inmates are.
Speaker 2 (11:18):
Derrick Groves who is one of the two inmates still missing.
He's twenty eight years old. He was convicted of second
degree murder. He is still on the lease now. He
has not been seen since the day of the escape,
has not been seen by the public. So wherever he's hiding,
he's in a good hiding spot if you will, no sightings.
Speaker 1 (11:41):
But the second guy is not the.
Speaker 2 (11:44):
Smartest antwine massy, and yeah, he can't stay off social media.
This guy is has actually almost become a meme, a character.
If you will. Some people are placing bets as if
this was Las Vegas on who's gonna get caught first?
Is he gonna get away with us and never be
seen again? That The thing that is so intriguing about
(12:07):
Massy is that he is a guy that could not
blend in anywhere in the world. He has face tattoos.
If he was standing in front of you right now,
you would know right away that's Antoine Massey. The fact
that he is still on the loose is shocking enough
because of his identifying features. But one makes it really
(12:27):
wild is this is his third escape. Yeah, he's an
escape artist.
Speaker 1 (12:33):
He knew what he was doing. And I guess again,
some of these answers are gonna come out later. I
almost want to know who's the brains behind this, and
I wouldn't be surprised if it's him.
Speaker 2 (12:42):
It very well could be. And you know, he was
charged with domestic abuse and auto theft. That's what he
was in. That's what he was in Orleans Paris jail four.
He had not been convicted yet. But the scary thing
here is, assuming he is guilty of the charges, there's
someone out there that he domestically abused that you know. I. Yeah,
(13:06):
I feel for him because until he's caught, they're not
gonna feel safe.
Speaker 1 (13:11):
And we you and I were talking about this beforehand,
that the latest pictures show him with the rockets in Houston.
Speaker 3 (13:19):
Yeah, I think that's to throw people off.
Speaker 2 (13:22):
Yeah, I don't think he would. You know, if you
if you're an escape convict and you go to Gatlinburg, Tennessee,
you're not gonna wear a Gatlinburg, Tennessee T shirt. But
the police know that. I mean they're smart enough to know.
I don't think they're gonna say, oh, he's wearing a
Houston Rocket shirt. We know right where because he was
in the whole garb. The shorts were Houston Rockets, the
(13:43):
cap was Houston Rockets. He's basically saying, come to Houston.
So if he's in the Houston, Wow, that's pretty for
all we I think.
Speaker 1 (13:52):
If I don't trust the trust the system, for all
we know it's artificial intelligence.
Speaker 2 (13:58):
You know you're right, because that's the scary thing with AI. Yes,
that is the scary thing with AI. Now, one thing
that I can tell you about Massy in particular is
the reason it's such a bad idea to place videos
and pictures of yourself outside of just the fact that
you're doing it. Is if you take a picture, there's
(14:21):
a way to decipher where that picture was taken just
by looking at the picture, just by taking it and
loading it into program, and it'll say this was taken
at three zero two pm at you know, in Baton Orage, Louisiana.
Speaker 1 (14:35):
But then that's that's why I'm a lot of confused.
Why hasn't he been caught yet?
Speaker 2 (14:42):
Great question? And you look, if you would have told
me a month ago before this happened, that ten people,
not only ten people would escape, but two would still
be on the run, I would say there's no way.
And when you ask me why, I would say technology
is too good these days. You have license plate readers,
you have facial wrucking me readers. No one can get
away for this long.
Speaker 1 (15:03):
And then even backgrounds, Jim, I mean, look at all
the programs that are out there now the same thing. Yeah,
that background, for all we know is artificial intelligence.
Speaker 2 (15:12):
Yeah he is.
Speaker 1 (15:14):
That may not even be him talking, No, it may
be he uploaded a photo, but it goes right back
to it. We have all these Internet Crimes Task Force,
the Attorney General's got multiple task force, and you would
be able to see where he accessed a phone or
a computer unless he's at Billy Bob Joe's house and
(15:38):
he's using Billy Bob Joe's cell phone. I don't know.
Speaker 4 (15:45):
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Speaker 2 (17:06):
I'm the same way, And you know they they had
a sighting of him that someone had called in from Natchez, Mississippi. However,
they were never able to confirm it was him because
when they got there they couldn't find him. So if
he was in that area, he was gone. They swept
that area and the Natchist police said he ain't here anymore.
(17:27):
If he was, uh so that was the only sighting
of Massy that anyone had. But it really is something
that calls into question not only the budgeting concerns you
brought up, but also the employee concerns. I mean, how
did these counts get missed? This makes the national news
and everybody is on this thing, and what happens somebody
(17:49):
from tan Chapahoe Parish escapes jail.
Speaker 3 (17:53):
I thought that was a joke.
Speaker 1 (17:54):
I really did. When I saw that press release coming unbelievable.
In my head, I'm thinking you're kidding me right now,
like wa, wait, what's happening? So of course they come
in waves of three. So in my head, I'm thinking, Okay,
where's the next escape happening from?
Speaker 2 (18:07):
Yep, And it happened. Tangy had two escapes, they really did.
Like what Yeah, and look the guy that escaped initially
from Tangy Parish jail. This guy had escaped before. As
a matter of fact, he escaped the year before from
the same prison.
Speaker 3 (18:26):
Yes, how does that happen?
Speaker 2 (18:29):
Well?
Speaker 1 (18:29):
And again I think it goes back to Jim that
so many of these systems are struggling when it comes
to getting that revenue. And I get that.
Speaker 3 (18:42):
We as Louisian.
Speaker 1 (18:44):
Unions, I think are sick and tired of being taxed.
And when I say that, I can say the we
number one I live here, but number two covering it
in our immediate area. Recently, any text that has gone
on in ballot it is getting rejected left and right. Yes,
it does not matter what it is for. People are
(19:06):
sick and tired of being taxed. And I think for
so long Americans understood and said, Okay, fine, Breck, you
need money, we get it.
Speaker 3 (19:14):
Okay, school systems.
Speaker 1 (19:16):
You need money fire departments. Okay, now it's like ten percent.
I mean East spun Riage Parish is one of the
highest taxed ten point five percent and it is straight
up nope, nope, nope, nope, nope, nope, nope. And I
know this because the East spun Rouge Parish prison, it's deplorable,
it is disgusting, and we constantly got complaints about the
(19:40):
AC's not working.
Speaker 3 (19:41):
And I get it.
Speaker 1 (19:42):
The inmates in there, and a lot of people might say,
are you serious, right now, they do have rights. The
goal is not to kill them. You are innocent until
proven guilty. They still have to have lowble conditions in there,
and in the heat when Louisiana hits those summer months,
you've got to have air condition So it's those basic
things that a sheriff can't even almost supply. And I
(20:07):
know it's temporary. The AC went out, whatnot, But think
about it. If they had all this money, they wouldn't
keep putting band aid on this little bitty problem. You
would eventually say, hey, let's go ahead and put this
money aside. We're building a new parish prison. Right that's
the local East Baton Rooge prison. That prision prison that
(20:27):
I can speak about because I know all that stuff personally.
Speaker 2 (20:30):
You've got to be right every time. If you're a sheriff,
an inmate has nothing to do all day long but
sit down and figure out how the heck am I
going to get out of here? You know, that's all
they've got to do. When you're a system, a prison system,
you have to make sure every day that every cat
is right. You've got to follow all the rules. You
(20:52):
got to make sure that your people are not bringing
in cell phones for inmates, bringing in drugs, all the
things that you hear about. Now, this is not just
a Louisiana problem. It's a national problem. As a matter
of fact, Arkansas just caught Grant Harden, who was a
former chief of police and a murderer in a rapist
(21:15):
of the worst form in Arkansas. He escaped for twelve
days from a maximum security prison in Arkansas. Just got
caught about three days ago. And this guy was only
a mile away from the prison the whole time. Now
it's Arkansas, these it's very mountainous there, and he had
(21:35):
a lot of places to hide.
Speaker 1 (21:37):
Well, as a former police chief, you kind of.
Speaker 2 (21:40):
He walked right out the front door he made himself
a uniform and walked right out the front. Someone opened
the gate for him to let him out. I mean,
you can't make that stuff up. And it's funny, but
it's not. It's it's certainly not funny, but it's mind blowing.
The the planning that this guy made to get out,
And that's the whole point. That's all these guys got
(22:01):
to do twenty four hours a day is figure out
how to get out. Yep.
Speaker 1 (22:04):
And all it takes is like I was saying earlier,
that the brainchild is one person coming to terms and saying, hey, guys,
we're gonna do this. We're gonna do this now. The
odd thing for me is why only ten How come
if it was happening, how come mosh going out?
Speaker 2 (22:20):
Yeah, well, I'm sure they wanted out, but maybe some
of them in there give them a little credit for
maybe having some sense and saying I ain't doing that.
You know, they're gonna they're probably, like all of us,
thought they'd get caught by the next day. And now
you've got two years added to a sentence, which I
don't think stuff enough for escape incidentally, but that'll take
(22:40):
a lot of law changes and I do want to
mention so Antoine Massey, we talked about the video he
posted and for people out there that don't realize in
this video he was imploring help from certain peoples. As
a matter of fact, Kim Kardashian, Yeah, the President of
the United States Trump NB a young boy and Meek Mill.
(23:04):
He wanted you know, he's saying, he's claiming this as
you know, he's completely innocent and all those sorts of things,
and they need to help him. I wouldn't if I
was him. I wouldn't wait by my phone for that
call from from any of these people.
Speaker 1 (23:20):
The president had just pardoned and be a young boy, Yeah,
which I think the day before.
Speaker 2 (23:26):
Yeah, it might have been the day before.
Speaker 1 (23:27):
So I don't know if that adds to it.
Speaker 2 (23:30):
I'm sure it played a role. Yeah, I'm sure it
played a role.
Speaker 1 (23:33):
I just I still have a very tough time wrapping
my head around the whole video and pictures.
Speaker 2 (23:39):
And yeah, it's not what I would choose to do
if I was on the run. I mean, I wouldn't.
I wouldn't do anything that could link me to anything.
I wouldn't want anybody with a cell phone around me
because you can try cell phones, but yet on the
least he still remains. And you know, there's a whole
other side to this outside of that that just the
(24:02):
past couple of days has come out speaking of budgets,
and that's the cost this is now costing to chase
these guys. Two hundred state policemen right now are specifically
employed to find them. They have taken them off everything
else and said you are on the hunt. Not only that,
(24:22):
you've got the ATF involved, you've got the FBI involved,
all these agencies working to catch these guys. Specifically. That
is not cheap. That's expensive. There's a lot of overtime
being paid. Who pays for that? We do? If you're
caught or when you're caught, you're obviously not going back
(24:44):
to the same jail you escape from. All of eight
of the ten that have been caught have all went
to in goal On. Yeah, that's not where they want
to That's not where you want to end up.
Speaker 1 (24:58):
If sides on one.
Speaker 2 (25:02):
They're sitting in in Gola. So you're right, it is
a black eye on the system. And you've basically bitten
the bear now and the bear saying okay, I'm gonna
put you in in Gola where there is no air conditioner. Uh,
you're gonna be working a field, slinging a you know,
a hoe for the for the next I don't know
(25:22):
how many years you.
Speaker 3 (25:23):
Have murder was life?
Speaker 1 (25:26):
Yeah, if your second degree and you're already convicted, you
have life in prison. So adding two more years, well,
it's not really gonna.
Speaker 2 (25:33):
Do much for us, That's that's right.
Speaker 1 (25:35):
But like you said, in Gola and for our listeners
who don't know this, And Jim would be the best
person to talk about this with his other podcast, Bloody
in Gola. That and Gola is on three sides around it.
Speaker 3 (25:49):
Yeah, rounded, natural.
Speaker 1 (25:51):
Carriers, snake infested waters.
Speaker 2 (25:55):
It's eighteen thousand acres and size uh and some of
the roughest terrain you'll find in Louisiana. You're not getting
out of Angola. You know, you can get out of
the wire as they call it. You may get out
of that razor wire and get beyond that gate, and
there's very few who have been able to do that.
But unless you have a vehicle, you're not hiking out
(26:17):
of there. The gators a get you of the wolves,
A get you of the bears. Whatever. But it's a
prison that is a lot harsher than Orleans Paris jail.
And so those guys, even the ones that were only
going for you know, there were a few that were
caught the next day.
Speaker 3 (26:35):
Up they're caught.
Speaker 2 (26:36):
They're caught, and now they're in Angola. And now they've
got two years added to their sentence. And you're with
the big boys. Now you're with the real prisoners.
Speaker 1 (26:43):
Now, between the cadaver dogs and those West fully Siana,
they are used to it. They know, they have a
system in place that when an escape happens, they know
where they're going, they know what they're doing.
Speaker 3 (26:55):
And between those.
Speaker 1 (26:56):
Cadaver dogs, you're really not going to stay escaped very
very long.
Speaker 2 (26:59):
No you're not. And as of now, twenty five days
as of this recording, that these guys have been on
the run, Massy and growths, that's unbelievable. That is to me,
that is where is Massy and fifty thousand dollars now
(27:22):
each on their heads. Somebody has got to turn them in.
You can't tell me you've got that many little friends. Seriously,
I mean their rider dies now because for fifty g's
a lot of people would turn you in. Your own
family might turn you in for fifty thousand.
Speaker 1 (27:38):
Well, there are two more important things that I want
to touch on. Number One, I applaud the Orleans Parish
Sheriff for not hiding, not trying to put a put
lipstick on this specific pig. And in this case, Jim,
which the whole reason is that you can use the
(28:02):
media to your benefit law enforcement when you're out there
and you have something like this happen. And I get
it in today's day and age with social media, but
even on social media, law enforcement has the people that
follow their pages. The mainstream media is like the WWL,
the WDSUS. Now it's all national. Those were the local
(28:23):
New Orleans stations. They can get it out a lot
faster to a lot more people. Let me bring up
the other issue when it comes to I guess you
could almost call it a budget issue, but it's kind
of like appeeling back an onion, Jim that at the
end of the day, people are not wanting to do
law enforcement anymore. And this is a national problem, a big, big,
(28:48):
big time problem, from.
Speaker 3 (28:49):
The state level to the federal level.
Speaker 1 (28:53):
To the local levels, and trickle them down to the
small towns. They're all struggling to get people who want
to be police officers.
Speaker 2 (29:03):
That's right, and I think there's a lot of reasons
for that. The look the culture. When I grew up
in the eighties, if you were trick or treating on Halloween,
you were a police officer. If you you know, you
are a police officer or fireman. I can tell you that,
as as an adult who had kids who trick or
(29:26):
treated and all these sorts of things, when I would
pass out candy. In the last five six years, very
few police officers and that told me a lot. The
culture has changed there. There is no one on the
face of this earth more pro police than me, no one.
I have more respect for the good police officers in
(29:48):
this country than anyone. The rest that they take for
complete strangers. I will never be able to write my
mind around the heroism that it takes, the bravery, all
those sorts of things. They run, They run to what
everybody else runs away from andy and they don't hesitate.
(30:10):
They don't get paid enough.
Speaker 1 (30:13):
Major problem putting your life on the line, putting.
Speaker 2 (30:15):
Your life on the line every day, and with social media,
they get crucified every time you turn around. Oh God forbid,
they pull someone over that, uh, you know, the next thing,
you know, it's it's something completely different than take out
the fact the person was going one hundred miles an hour,
(30:35):
you know, and they had every right to pull them over. Uh.
They get crucified for those things. And there's good and
bad in every profession. And absolutely there's bad police officers
that don't need to be police office.
Speaker 1 (30:45):
We've covered them left and rights.
Speaker 2 (30:47):
One hundred percent. But I would say the vast majority
are good, hard working people that are out there risking
their life every day so that you and I can
just go about our day and not feel like, you know,
we're not safe.
Speaker 1 (31:02):
You know, if you sit down and talk to the
former Baton Ridge Police Chief, Pat Nglade, who was chief
during a very tatuous time for Baton Riage during the
Derek Todd Lee serial killer days, he will tell you that.
Speaker 3 (31:17):
And then prior to him was Greg Fairies as the chief.
Speaker 1 (31:20):
But they will both tell you that to get into
the academy for Baton Roach PD, it was so long
that you would almost pray that you make the list,
you make the cutoff, But no, they had an option
to choose which officer was the best of the best.
Speaker 2 (31:42):
Yeah, they could pick and choose.
Speaker 3 (31:44):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (31:45):
Now, the latest B or PD academy that graduated, take
a guess how many people.
Speaker 3 (31:50):
It was fifteen seven? Wow, it started with more.
Speaker 1 (31:56):
You had some people who just couldn't do it, their
backgrounds didn't pass. You had one or two that were
like deuces, I'm out, I can't do all this. Seven graduated. Well,
when you only have seven gym at the end of
the day, you've got to put those seven to work.
So now translate this to Orleans Parish. It's the sheriff's office.
(32:18):
It's the same thing with the deputies there. They're struggling.
The jail is almost a spot where you put intro
level absolutely deputies or people deputies who have been disciplined
for possible wrongdoing go to the jail. So then you
have people like the maintenance person who was saying that
he was threatened and he's fearing for his life.
Speaker 3 (32:41):
So he turned off the water.
Speaker 1 (32:42):
Yeah, and I guess that was a long version, which
is why we have a podcast that to peeling back
the onion that it's not just a simple answer as
to what really went wrong here.
Speaker 2 (32:53):
Right, Yeah, there is no simple answer, But I think
as a society, and especially locally as Louisianians here, we
really need to look into the issue of hiring police
officers and getting good qualified candidates. You know, used to
(33:18):
be a lot of pride if you were a detective
in a police organization and you're out there and you're
hunting for truth. Right now, these people with the brain
power and capacity to do that are choosing to be
dentist or doctors, or or a million other professions because
I feel like, for far too long, not only monetarily
(33:40):
are at police officers not being compensated, but also the
culture has just become where it's almost you're bad if
you're a police officer, you're a bad person.
Speaker 1 (33:50):
Well, and it's I would add to that that I
think there are men and women out there who still say,
we'll do it.
Speaker 2 (33:57):
We love it.
Speaker 1 (33:58):
My dad did it, my grandfather did it. It's in
the family, my uncle's everybody's police. This is all I
want to do. It's not even the money that's going
to stop them. What's going to stop them is, like
you said, when that chase happens, the suspects going one
hundred miles an hour, h he crashes out, he gets out,
he raises an AR fifteen and tries to shoot a
(34:20):
police officer. Officer returns fire kills him.
Speaker 3 (34:23):
Who's the bad.
Speaker 2 (34:23):
Guy, Well, the guy would that tried to shave the
police officer?
Speaker 1 (34:28):
No, the officer is the officer killed a person.
Speaker 2 (34:32):
Yeah, that's the mentality perception.
Speaker 3 (34:35):
Going on right now.
Speaker 1 (34:36):
Any human being, if you have a gun in your
hands and someone's shooting you, what are you going to do?
Speaker 2 (34:42):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (34:43):
So I know it's it's a long conversation here, but hey,
that's what podcasting is.
Speaker 2 (34:48):
It's a worthwhile conversation, it answeration. It's you know, the
podcasts are all about giving someone the opportunity to think
about that situation and how hoefully there's some listeners to
this that are singing that side of things, because there's
a lot of things that need to be tightened up,
especially with our correctional system. Obviously, it's not a Louisiana problem.
(35:14):
It's a national problem. It happens in every state. Maybe
not to this, I'm out. I mean, I gotta say,
you know, Tim might beat the record. I don't know.
Speaker 3 (35:23):
I know in Louisiana is that Yeah.
Speaker 2 (35:25):
In Louisiana, as far as anybody's been able to find
that is the largest escape in the history of Louisiana.
Speaker 3 (35:32):
Presence that's worthy of a black guy.
Speaker 1 (35:34):
Jim.
Speaker 2 (35:35):
Yeah, Oh, it certainly is. And heads rolling in all
those sorts of things definitely is. And you know, like
I said, maybe all we can hope for is some
good to come out of this with. Maybe they'll shore
up that jail now and really look into the mistakes
and fix them. That's what we hope.
Speaker 1 (35:55):
Yeah, and I hope these next two people, I say
next to these other two people are caught soon. Because
don't laugh at me when I say this, But I
remember watching a documentary on Alcatraz and the three guys
who escaped, and and I cannot remember the name of
this documentary, but the way they pretty much brought to
(36:18):
life how these people got out and it was just
a few hours of a heads up. I'm sorry, it
was just a few hours where they were able to
escape and nobody realized it a few if I remember correctly.
Speaker 2 (36:33):
Yeah, it was the Angler brothers, yes, and Eastwood, but
that but that made but that.
Speaker 3 (36:42):
Made the biggest difference. I want to say. It was
like three hours pay cash on a rock.
Speaker 2 (36:47):
You're surrounded by water, either like on Alcatraz. I mean
you can get a long way. Yes, uh yeah, it
really is. And they're supposed to be those counts like
every hour. I mean, this is uh common practice in
just about every prison.
Speaker 1 (37:02):
Mistakes were made and that's why I'm saying that. I
think a lot more is going to come out here.
But the focus right now, I would assume is we
need to get these other two back.
Speaker 3 (37:12):
That would be the top focus.
Speaker 1 (37:14):
Of course, I'm sure they're already tightening up inside that Hey,
you better make sure you're counting on the hour. Has
that come out to the media. Has the sheriff made
that very very clear to the media. No, and that's
not her priority right this minute.
Speaker 2 (37:28):
That's right, that's right. And look for all those guys
that are in in the jail now, and you know,
some of them are probably like, yeah, you go, you
got out of prison, you beat the system. They ain't
loving them right now because your life just got twenty
times harder than it was a month ago. Because now
everybody's eyes on you twenty four hours a day, and
(37:50):
it is.
Speaker 1 (37:50):
Worthy of national news because at this point we don't
know where they are, right they.
Speaker 2 (37:55):
Could be anywhere, they could they you know, they could
be all the way in California. By now, they already
caught several in Texas, so I mean they were across
state lines, and once you break out of the state,
you've got a lot better chance of getting away with
it because the press just isn't even though it's a
(38:15):
national story, it's not covered as heavy in Arkansas as
it is in Louisiana.
Speaker 1 (38:20):
It's on the national news, right, it's not on the
local Fayetteville correct CBS station.
Speaker 2 (38:26):
Exactly.
Speaker 1 (38:27):
You can go sit at a diner and you have
no idea who the person is next to you. I mean,
you know who lives in your small town. But I
mean to say, if there is a stranger you may
not recognize. Hey, wait, this is an escaped in meat.
Speaker 2 (38:38):
Yeah, that's right. That's the shocking thing to me about
Massy because if you see his picture one time, he
just stands out to you. Anywhere in the country, you're
gonna notice a guy with that many tats on his face,
You're gonna notice it. It's gonna stand out. And he's
been select so far.
Speaker 1 (38:58):
Wow, well, Jim, did we kind of cover everything?
Speaker 2 (39:01):
I think we did. I think we did.
Speaker 1 (39:04):
Thank you so much for joining us, and if you
haven't already, guys, go listen. Jim is a podcast king
from Bloodying Gola to Local Leaders, which is a big
podcast that's done mainly locally to focus on some of
the local businesses and leaders. And then obviously the one
that's just taken off is exposed.
Speaker 2 (39:25):
Yeah yeah, give you the maybe a little bit of
the tea on some of these rich and famous in
our country.
Speaker 1 (39:32):
So go take a listen to those and to our listeners,
we thank you for joining us for this week's episode
of Louisiana Unfiltered and we will see you next week.
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