Was the shocking escape of 10 prisoners from a highly-secure New Orleans, LA prison a calcuated inside job?
According to one ex-FBI official, it seems very likely.
Scott Duffey, a former FBI agent who spent 10 years hunting fugitives says employees of the Orleans Parish Jail almost certainly knew about and assisted the massive 10-person escape last Friday.
In an interview with Fox News, Duffey said it would be nearly impossible for 10 people to escape from a jail without help from the inside, or at least without people on the inside knowing about a planned escape.
“If 10 people did it, that means at least double that number knew about it,” he told Fox News.
“So that’s a big intel breach. And how can that happen without somebody on the inside not assisting?”
Authorities said they are investigating whether the inmates, many of whom have been charged with heinous violent crimes, had help from jail staff. Three employees have been suspended pending the ongoing investigation.
“How could there not be somebody on the inside?” Duffey said. “That would be such a major intel [and] physical security breach that I would say everybody needs to be looked at there, because that’s a huge number [of escapees].”
As for why a corrections officer might help a prisoner escape, Duffey said there are a number of reasons, but he specifically mentioned that a romantic relationship with an inmate could be possible.
In terms of finding the escaped convicts, Duffey said it is likely that the fugitives are still in the New Orleans area and likely couch-surfing with friends and family to avoid detection.
And if he were in charge, he said he would be applying maximum pressure to those family and friends to get them to turn the inmates in.
“So everybody in the family is immediately being interviewed and probably given the riot act with regards to, OK, we determined he’s definitely not here. Now we want to know when’s the last time you had contact?” Duffey said.
“Did you get contacted by the fugitive since he escaped? And here’s what can happen if you aid a fugitive.”
Duffey spent 22 years in the FBI, including a decade hunting fugitives, before retiring as a supervisory special agent. He is now the director of the Wilmington University Criminal Justice Institute in Delaware.