A Louisiana inmate who authorities began searching for after receiving a public tip was recaptured on Friday, according to the Tangipahoa Parish Sheriff’s Office.
Tra’Von Johnson, 22, was found on Bennett Road in Amite City, just a few miles away from the Tangipahoa Parish Jail that he escaped from on Thursday afternoon, the sheriff’s office said in an update Friday evening. This was his second escape from the jail, according to the sheriff’s office, who said he broke out of the facility “a year ago this month.”
“TPSO wants to thank, first and foremost, the community for standing with us in this effort,” the sheriff’s office said, adding that Louisiana State Police made the arrest.
The sheriff’s office shared a video of Johnson being taken back into custody and placed into a Louisiana State Police helicopter.
Prior to his escape, Johnson was awaiting trial in Tangipahoa Parish Jail for his alleged role in a 2022 Hammond-area home invasion where a man was killed and his child was injured, according to the sheriff’s office. He’s since been charged with simple escape.
Johnson has been taken to Angola, Louisiana since he was recaptured, where he will await trial, the sheriff’s office said. The sheriff’s office did not clarify if Johnson will be held at the Louisiana State Penitentiary in Angola.
Johnson and another inmate, Trevon Wallace, were able to escape the jail after an inmate in their dorm flooded a shower at around 4:15 p.m.
“During the clean-up, while several sections of exterior doors were open to push water out, an interior door was inadvertently opened less than a minute before the error was realized and it was closed again,” the sheriff’s office said. “In those few seconds, Johnson and Wallace ran out of all of the doors to the yard.”
The sheriff’s office released surveillance video of Wallace and Johnson running out to the yard before Wallace gives Johnson a boost over a perimeter fence. Wallace ran back to the jail building afterwards, where he was intercepted by deputies who took him back to his cell.
The deputies did not report the incident with the door, or Wallace’s interception, to superiors, and failed to do a proper headcount after finding him, the sheriff’s office said.
Just before 10 p.m., the sheriff’s office received a call from a member of the public who asked if Johnson was still in custody. The person did not identify themselves, Sheriff Gerald Sticker said at a news briefing Friday afternoon.
The realization of Johnson’s escape prompted a lockdown at the jail and a search that lasted until around 3 a.m. Friday morning, according to Sticker. Johnson was eventually found Friday evening.
“At this time, it is not believed this was a planned escape, but rather, an opportunistic one that was compounded by a failure of jail staff to follow protocols put in place as preventative measures for escapes,” the sheriff’s office said. “However, the current investigation into this incident does include looking into the person who called the jail and the inmate who caused the flooding to begin with.”
Wallace has since been charged with simple escape and principal to help someone escape, according to Sticker. Four members of the jail’s staff were placed on administrative leave, he said.
According to the sheriff’s office, the jail “is only able to staff one individual tasked with monitoring 60 cameras all at once while also opening doors as requested by deputies in and around the pods and dorms.” Sticker said the sheriff’s office has been working to address deficiencies at the jail, but it is “still a work in progress.”
