Authorities apprehended a Louisiana inmate who had previously escaped from a parish jail nearly a year before.
The Tangipahoa Parish Sheriff’s Office reported that Tra’Von Johnson, 22, was taken back into custody on Friday night.
Johnson made his latest escape Thursday night from Tangipahoa Parish Jail, which has seen a half-dozen inmates break out in recent years, according to the sheriff’s office. Johnson was awaiting trial for his alleged role in a home invasion that killed a man and injured a child, authorities said.
Authorities said they became suspicious when a member of the public called the sheriff’s office just before 10 p.m. on Thursday, asking if Johnson was still in custody.
During a news briefing Friday, Sheriff Gerald Sticker stated that an incident occurred at a jail dorm in which inmates flood a cell. While a crew was cleaning the dorm, Johnson and another inmate, Trevon Wallace, opened the jail’s back door that leads into the yard, Sticker stated. Wallace did not escape and was led back inside.
“Following an immediate head count 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,” according to a statement from the sheriff’s office.
According to Sticker, at least four people have been placed on administrative leave pending a full review.
Johnson was one of four inmates who escaped the jail over Memorial Day weekend in May 2024 by breaking through the perimeter fence during yard recreation time. Johnson and another inmate were discovered hiding in a dumpster behind a Dollar General store.
Manpower shortages, inadequate staff training and experience, a lack of supervision, and insufficient head counts all contributed to the escape last year, according to authorities.
Tangipahoa Parish’s jail in Amite is approximately 75 miles northwest of New Orleans.
Johnson’s escape and subsequent capture occur as authorities continue to search for five of the ten inmates who escaped from a New Orleans jail on May 16. The inmates’ escape from the Orleans Parish Justice Center, which was captured on surveillance video, involved removing a jail cell door from its track and breaching a wall behind a cell’s toilet.