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Former inmate wearing orange jumpsuit outside New Orleans Criminal Court triggers lockdown

A preliminary background check revealed that the man had been an inmate at the jail as recently as 2022.

NEW ORLEANS — In what may go down as one of the worst Halloween costumes ever, a man wearing a full orange jumpsuit from the parish prison was arrested several blocks from New Orleans Criminal Court Thursday morning, but not before triggering a full security lockdown of the jail.

Casey McGee, the spokesperson for the Orleans Parish Sheriff’s Office, said a headcount later showed that the man was not an escaped inmate and the lockdown was lifted.

“Deputies at the Orleans Justice Center conducted a headcount in all jail facilities and confirmed everyone was accounted for and there had been no escapes by anyone in OPSO custody,” McGee wrote in an email.

The man was briefly detained and the sheriff’s office confiscated the jumpsuit, revealing that the ill-fated prankster was wearing an authentic and easily identifiable jail outfit over normal civilian clothes, McGee said.

Multiple people at the courthouse said reports about a possible escape started sounding just before 8 a.m. McGee said the sheriff’s investigative team responded and the man was quickly apprehended.

The person’s name was not provided since he was not arrested. McGee said a preliminary background check did reveal that the man had been inmate and was released – ironically – on Halloween 2023.

Information was not yet available on how he obtained – or retained – the infamous jumpsuit.

In keeping with the spooky holiday spirit, McGee did add this tongue-in-cheek observation: “Maybe he wants to be an OPSO inmate again. We must be doing something worth emulating.” 

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