Caught on tape: woman escapes jail through unlocked doors

A woman being booked into the Orleans Parish Prison in Louisiana escaped Monday evening by walking out two doors after a police officer left them open, Sheriff Marlin Gusman said.

Torrie Smith, 31, had been arrested on charges of aggravated battery after a confrontation with her boyfriend.

She was at the temporary intake center waiting to be processed when she escaped. She was recaptured Tuesday.

"No escape is acceptable. Doors are locked for a reason," Gusman said.

Surveillance video showed that a New Orleans Police Department officer walked into the intake center and left two doors open.

Gusman said Smith saw the open doors and walked out. She ran outside and managed to get over the locked front gate.

The portion of the surveillance video that shows the woman's escape through the gate is blurred, so that the sheriff's office does not reveal to others how she got out.

Smith has been booked into Orleans Parish Prison several times before on numerous unrelated charges, according to Gusman.

"(It's) negligence for sure, that you prevent doors from locking on purpose. That's always a problem," Gusman said.

It was a prison nurse who alerted deputies to Smith's escape.

Gusman laid blame for the escape on the NOPD officer, who he said he believes was rushing to work on another arrest and left the doors open to save time.

A New Orleans police spokesman said it is the sheriff's responsibility to secure the jail. Police Superintendent Warren Riley is reviewing the case.

Smith is seventh person to escape from Orleans Parish Prison custody in five incidents this year.

A man escaped in March, and two more got out through a fire exit in July. In October, two more prisoners escaped and were later caught in Florida. And on November 3rd, an inmate walked away from his work detail in the prison kitchen; he was caught later that afternoon.