Inmate manages to escape from a Louisiana jail for the second time in a year

A courthouse is shown in an undated photo. (Pexels / Brett Sayles)

A Louisiana jail inmate who escaped from a parish jail about a year ago has accomplished the same feat again, authorities said.

Tra’Von Johnson, 19, made his latest escape Thursday from the Tangipahoa Parish Jail, which has a history of jailbreaks involving a half-dozen inmates in recent years, the sheriff's office announced. Johnson had been awaiting a trial for his alleged role in a home invasion that left a man killed and a child injured, authorities said.

Authorities say they became suspicious when a member of the public called the sheriff's office shortly before 10 p.m. Thursday, questioning whether Johnson was still in custody.

“Following an immediate headcount of the jail population and a review of Johnson’s movements throughout the day, it was determined Johnson escaped around 4:30 p.m. when another inmate helped lift him over the perimeter fence,” the sheriff's office said in a statement.

Law officers are now searching for Johnson and also contacting victims and reaching out to Johnson’s relatives and associates, the sheriff's office said.

In the summer of 2024, Johnson was among a group of four inmates who escaped from the jail over the Memorial Day weekend by crawling under a gap in a wall and then scaling two razor-wire fences. Three of the escapees including Johnson were captured within days, but it took six months to apprehend the fourth fugitive.

Manpower shortages, inadequate staff training and experience, a lack of supervision and insufficient head counts contributed to the escape last year, authorities said at the time.

In 2017, two brothers being held on charges that included attempted murder escaped from the jail's exercise yard and were recaptured the next day, WBRZ-TV reported at the time.

Tangipahoa Parish's jail in Amite is about 75 miles (120 kilometers) northwest of New Orleans.

The latest Tangipahoa Parish jailbreak comes as state and federal law officers continue hunting for five of the 10 inmates who escaped from a jail in New Orleans. In that case, the inmates squeezed through a small hole after removing a toilet. The message “To Easy LOL” was left on the cell room wall, with an arrow pointing to the hole.

Jeff Martin, The Associated Press