New Orleans' jail system was troubled decades before 10 inmates made an audacious escape

The recent jailbreak in New Orleans followed decades of dysfunction in the city's jail system and recent warnings that conditions were ripe for catastrophe. Among the most memorable scandals was a series of jailhouse videos showing inmates chugging Budweiser, snorting drugs and ejecting bullets from a handgun. That footage fueled a sweeping 2013 court order intended to reform one of the most violent jails in the U.S. But much of that makeover remains unfulfilled despite federal oversight and the 2015 opening of the state-of-the-art Orleans Justice Center. An independent jail monitor has warned for months of “extremely inadequate” staffing levels and dangerously lax supervision.