TANGIPAHOA PARISH, La. — UPDATE: TPSO announced the arrest of Omarion Hookfin, 19, leaving just 20-year-old Jamarcus Cyprian still at large.
Two of the four inmates who busted out of the Tangipahoa Parish jail over the weekend were still on the run Tuesday afternoon.
“I said, ‘Oh my goodness,’” said District Three Councilman Nick Joseph when he heard about the escapes.
Joseph says he immediately knew what part of the problem was.
“A lot of fault lies with the lack of supervision,” said Joseph.
The parish-owned jail, which is operated by the sheriff’s office, sits in his district. It’s where four inmates escaped unnoticed over the weekend.
“Ultimately, the responsibility falls upon the sheriff’s office,” said Chief of Operations at the sheriff’s office, Jimmy Travis.
Travis says two inmates, Avery Guidry, 19, and Travon Johnson, 21, broke part of a fence, slid under an outside wall, and climbed two razor wire fences Saturday. Two more inmates, Omarion Hookfin, 19, and Jamarcus Cyprian, 20, did the same thing Sunday and are still on the run.
Jail staff had no idea what happened until a tip came on Sunday afternoon. Guidry and Johnson were caught the next day hiding in a dumpster outside a dollar store in Hammond.
“It’s very concerning. If the proper headcounts had been conducted, we would have known about it immediately,” said Travis.
Travis admits there’s a lack of inmate supervision at the jail, which has a high employee turnover. He says being understaffed is no excuse but plays a role in employees' missteps.
“It’s kind of hard to get in and start disciplining someone that hasn’t been properly trained and doesn’t have the experience,” said Travis.
Getting that experience isn’t easy.
“Jailers are just hard to get. Let’s face it, they’re hard to get and the pay is low, and once they see an avenue for upward mobility they’re gone,” said Joseph.
Understaffing at the jail is nothing new, neither are structural issues and escapes. After an escape during the Summer of 2014, Sheriff Daniel Edwards raised concerns then.
“There is no question that we need additional space. We need a newer facility. We have serious infrastructure problems,” said Sheriff Edwards during a news conference in July of 2014.
The year before, the parish council voted to get approval for a half-cent sales tax to improve the jail. Voters rejected it and there hasn’t been an attempt since.
“Maybe people can see now that we need to find a means and a measure to improve our jail system up there,” said Joseph.
A system Joseph says the council will work with the sheriff’s office to correct this but knows resources can only go so far.
Cyprian was serving time for armed robber and weapons charges. The other three were being held after they were arrested in connection to a 2022 deadly home invasion in Hammond.
On Thursday, Sheriff-elect Gerald Sticker sent WWL Louisiana a statement that was earlier posted on Facebook, stating:
“We’ve known from Day 1 of our commitment to taking this agency and parish in a new direction that the jail would be a pivotal piece of that plan. While this current incident is no surprise, it’s not acceptable, and it furthers our awareness that major changes to the entire jail system, not just its structure, must remain one of our most critical priorities. Myself and my team are deeply involved in this current response, operational and physical review, as well as in engaging the federal, state and local partners we know we will need to address these long-standing security and staffing challenges at the jail. We ask the community to remain vigiliant in assisting with locating these last two inmates and to be confident that their (the public’s) safety is my primary concern right now.”
If you know anything about the escape or where the two inmates on the run are, call the Tangipahoa Parish Sheriff’s Office.
► Get breaking news from your neighborhood delivered directly to you by downloading the new FREE WWL-TV News app now in the IOS App Store or Google Play.