Police Say New Orleans Prison Break Was 'Inside Job' — and Now 2 Women on the Outside Are Also Charged

As police in Louisiana continue scrambling to find five of the 10 inmates who broke out of a New Orleans prison last Friday, authorities have arrested two women alleged to have helped some of the men after they escaped.

Louisiana State Police, who have yet to find half of the Orleans Parish Prison escapees, announced the arrest of two women on Thursday – one who allegedly gave food to an escapee and another who was suspected to have been “in contact via phone” with one of the former prisoners.

“Law enforcement agencies have been working around the clock to locate the inmates who escaped from the Orleans Justice Center on May 16, 2025,” police said while announcing the arrest of Cortnie Harris, 32, and Corvanntay Baptiste, 38.

Both women have been charged with one felony count for being accessories after the fact, according to Louisiana State Police, who said that under state law the women could be “fined not more than five hundred dollars, or imprisoned, with or without hard labor, for not more than five years, or both.”

“Harboring fugitives threatens the safety of our communities and will not be tolerated,” police warned.

On Tuesday, police arrested Sterling Williams, a prison maintenance worker who authorities claim assisted the inmates in their escape. Williams, 33, is alleged to have shut off water to a toilet and sink inside a cell, which were later ripped out, creating a hole for the 10 men to climb through, according to USA Today, BBC, and CBS News.

Williams’ attorney denied the allegation Wednesday, according to The Associated Press. The lawyer said his client believed a toilet was clogged when he shut the water off to the cell.

Williams, Harris, and Baptiste’s arrests come as state officials continue to push messages of law and order this week amid the public fallout over the highly publicized prison break.

Orleans Parish Sheriff Susan Hutson – who classified the escape as an “inside job,” according to USA Today – suspended her re-election campaign on Tuesday, saying she needed to focus on “restoring public trust” in law enforcement and her own ability to handle the job.

Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? Sign up for PEOPLE’s free True Crime newsletter for breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases.

The former prisoners who have continued to evade police for nearly a week include Leo Tate, Jermaine Donald, Derrick Groves, Lenton Vanburen and Antoine Massey, according to USA Today, while Corey Boyd, Gary Price, Kendell Myles, Robert Moody, and Dkenan Dennis have been re-arrested.

CBS News reports that the men who escaped range in age between 19 and 42 years old and have been imprisoned for a variety of crimes, including murder, assault, and domestic abuse. 

Surveillance video from outside the prison, obtained by BBC, shows at least two of the escapees running across traffic on a nearby highway during the daring escape. According to CBS News, surveillance video also showed two of the wanted men walking through the French Quarter on Friday just hours after they escaped from the Orleans Parish Prison, which is located less than two miles away.

Inside the cell where the men escaped, according to a photo shared by police, a message left scribbled on the wall read: “To Easy Lol.”