A 31-year-old inmate's attempt to flee custody at the Orleans Justice Center lasted just 28 seconds before deputies and surveillance cameras tracked him down, according to the Orleans Parish Sheriff's Office. Anthony Green bolted as a gate opened to let in a car while he was being returned to the jail from court, then hid behind a garbage can and under a staircase before he was detained.
The brief sprint has already drawn comparisons to New Orleans' most notorious recent jailbreak. As reported by WDSU, Metropolitan Crime Commission president Rafael Goyeneche said the escape attempt was probably the shortest in the jail's history, though he noted that a deputy made a mistake that cannot be tolerated. Surveillance cameras spotted Green almost immediately, and corrections officers detained him within seconds, the sheriff's office reported.
Green was being held on three domestic battery charges, but a judge found no probable cause on those charges during his Friday court hearing, per the same account. That lack of probable cause does not automatically mean the domestic battery charges will be dropped, and Green remained in custody anyway because of a years-old East Baton Rouge warrant accusing him of being a felon in possession of a firearm.
A Court Case Now Complicated by a Sprint for the Gate
Attorney Stavros Panagoulopoulos described the incident as more than anything a crime of opportunity, according to the station's report. He also said the escape attempt eliminates any mercy Green might have expected on his other charges, warning that it will create difficult consequences for him in court. The Orleans Parish Sheriff's Office said Green will face charges for the escape attempt itself, while the Orleans Parish District Attorney's Office can separately choose whether to prosecute him.
If prosecutors do move forward, Green would face exposure under Louisiana's escape statutes. Simple escape carries a penalty of up to five years imprisonment under Louisiana Revised Statutes 14:110 and 14:27, while an attempt to commit the offense is punishable by up to half that maximum sentence. It remains unresolved whether the DA's office will actually file those charges.
A Stark Contrast to Last Year's Jailbreak
Green's 28-second dash stands in sharp contrast to the jailbreak that upended the Orleans Justice Center in May 2025, when 10 inmates escaped through a hole cut behind a toilet in an unmonitored cell pod. As the Associated Press reported at the time, that breach went undetected for seven hours because of absent supervision and faulty locks, and it sparked a monthslong, multi-agency manhunt. All 10 of those fugitives were eventually recaptured, with four returned to the jail in June 2026 after a nationwide search and another convicted in April 2026 of second-degree murder in a 2021 shooting, according to WWL-TV.
That earlier escape unfolded inside a facility housing nearly 1,400 inmates that has operated under a federal consent decree since 2013 due to chronic staffing shortages and physical defects, court records and independent jail monitors showed, as detailed by Courthouse News. Green's attempt, by comparison, appears to have been an impulsive bid rather than a planned breach, and the Orleans Justice Center currently houses more than 1,400 pretrial inmates.
New Leadership, Continued Scrutiny
The Orleans Parish Sheriff's Office has faced increased scrutiny since last May's jailbreak, and the agency is now under new leadership. Michelle Woodfork was sworn in as Orleans Parish Sheriff in May 2026, replacing outgoing Sheriff Susan Hutson after defeating her in the October 2025 election with 53 percent of the vote. Hutson was later indicted by a special grand jury on 30 felony counts, including malfeasance in office, filing false public records, and obstruction of justice, stemming from systemic failures during the 2025 jailbreak, as Hoodline previously reported.
Since taking office, Woodfork's administration has pushed a series of security resets. In May, deputies and Louisiana Department of Corrections officers conducted a facility-wide shakedown that confiscated more than 50 bags of contraband, including suspected narcotics and weapons, in what OPSO called a security reset for the jail. The following month, an OPSO deputy was fired and arrested after a supervisor found an unauthorized bag containing an unloaded handgun inside the facility.
The jail's troubles have continued even as reforms take hold. In July, inmates inside Pod 3D torched bedding and physically assaulted deputies, sending staff to the hospital and prompting OPSO to review additional criminal charges against those involved. The Metropolitan Crime Commission has voiced more faith in the current sheriff's office administration than in the one it replaced, even as the facility continues to grapple with contraband, staffing pressures and inmate volatility.
The broader push for accountability has coincided with a steep drop in reported violent crime across New Orleans, which fell 55 percent between 2022 and 2024, according to a December 2025 report from the Metropolitan Crime Commission. The report credited closer coordination between police and District Attorney screeners assigned directly to police districts to evaluate felony cases early. Whether that same office will pursue formal escape charges against Green remains an open question as the case moves forward.
