Jail guard helps 10 inmates escape through a toilet, they left a note saying “Too Easy”

A jail custodian in the United States has been sentenced to 2 and a half years in prison for enabling 10 inmates to escape through a hole behind a toilet at a New Orleans jail in May 2025.

Sterling Williams, 34, was sentenced on Thursday, October 15, 2026, after pleading guilty to one count of malfeasance in office, according to the Associated Press. A further 2 and a half years of the sentence were suspended, and he will serve three years' probation. Prosecutors had earlier dropped 10 charges of being a principal to aggravated escape, an offence that carries up to 10 years in Louisiana.

The escape, one of the largest jailbreaks in recent US history, happened after Williams shut off the water to a cell. The inmates removed a toilet, crawled through a gap in the wall and scaled a fence out of the Orleans Justice Centre. They left behind a graffiti note reading "To Easy LoL."

Williams' lawyer, Michael Kennedy, said his client did not intentionally help the inmates but admitted failing to follow protocol. He said a work order should have been generated before the water was shut off for a clogged toilet. Kennedy conceded that Williams' actions may have aided the plan, but said that was "without Mr Williams' knowledge."

After his arrest in 2025, an arrest warrant cited by AP said Williams told investigators that an inmate threatened to stab him if he did not turn off the water. Police said at the time that he willfully assisted the escape.

All 10 inmates were eventually recaptured, though one convicted murderer stayed on the run for five months before he was found hiding beneath a house in Atlanta. They face aggravated escape charges and are due to stand jury trial in April.

At least 14 other people, many of them friends and family of the escapees, were also arrested over allegations that they helped with food, cash, transport and shelter.

Earlier this year, a grand jury indicted then-Orleans Parish Sheriff Susan Hutson on 30 counts, including malfeasance, obstruction of justice and falsifying public records. She is not accused of helping the inmates escape, but Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill said a state investigation found that her poor management led to the jailbreak. 

Hutson and Bianka Brown, the sheriff's office chief financial officer, who faces 20 similar charges, have pleaded not guilty.

Officials noted several lapses at the time, including faulty cell locks and a lone guard who had left to get food. Police were notified more than nine hours after the inmates fled.