There is uneasiness in the Big Easy after an inmate with a violent criminal record was set free in error on Friday.
Khalil Bryan, 30, was released from the New Orleans jail instead of a person with the same last name who was supposed to be freed, Orleans Parish Sheriff Susan Hutson said Friday, according the Times-Picayune.
{snip}
In 2023, Bryan was charged with aggravated flight and aggravated criminal damage to property over an incident in which a Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office car was rammed after a high-speed pursuit.
Bryan’s release came weeks after 10 inmates broke out of the Orleans Parish jail. One inmate remains on the loose.
The NOLA Ready alert system sent city residents a message saying a manhunt for Bryan was taking place.
{snip}
Hutson did not have details of the mistake as of Friday afternoon and said staff on duty at the time Bryan was released are being questioned.
“We’ll find out exactly what did happen, because we don’t know until we talk to them,” she said. “We know that there were similar last names. That’s all that we know.”
Disciplinary action “will be forthcoming,” she said.
{snip}
Orleans Parish District Attorney Jason Williams said that the mistaken release was “a deeply troubling incident that underscores the ongoing systemic issues surrounding the exercise of custody and control over detained individuals.”
He added, “The failure to properly confirm the identity of an inmate prior to release is an unacceptable lapse that presents a real and immediate risk to public safety.”
{snip}
“I’m gonna ask that you turn yourself in. You and others who may be harboring him at this moment, will be subject to prosecution yourself because you are on notice,” she added.
*Original Article:
Clerical Error Leads to Violent Criminal’s Escape, Massive Manhunt in New Orleans