After ten inmates broke out of a Orleans Parish Correctional Facility in Louisiana last week, Republican Governor Jeff Landry blamed 94-year-old billionaire and Democratic Party donor George Soros for the situation he says enabled the escape.
On Fox News, Landry said: “Several years ago, George Soros came over to New Orleans like Santa Claus and unpacked a district attorney, six judges, and a sheriff, and this is what criminal, this is what progressive criminal, a progressive criminal justice system looks like.”
The Governor added: “This is what happens with those people promise that to keep criminals out of jail…Sadly, you get ten of the most dangerous inmates that are in jail in Louisiana, they get to escape.”
After the jailbreak in NOLA, the governor blamed George Soros for “weak on crime” judges, prosecutors and sheriffs. The inmates escaped because of a poorly made jail, not because of “weak on crime” policies. The same judges, prosecutors and sheriffs had to go into hiding. pic.twitter.com/Xr1F9ecr2L
— Decoding Fox News (@DecodingFoxNews) May 26, 2025
Democrats are responding to Landry’s claim with comments including “This is some crazy spin” and “George Soros had nothing to do with any of that.”
Other commenters went after the puzzling logic of Landry’s claim, with one pointing out that “in order to escape from jail, I’d think they’d have to first be in jail. Meaning the judges put them there. Which isn’t strong evidence of them being soft on crime. If they weren’t in jail to begin with, it may explain how they escaped though.”
The Hill reports that Soros-linked groups contributed $220,000 to Orleans Parish District Attorney Jason Williams‘s (D) 2020 election.
On Thursday, Williams criticized fellow Soros-backed Orleans Parish Sheriff Susan Hutson (D), whom he said neglected to order a complete investigation of the crime scene. He said: “Time is also of the essence when trying to get good DNA samples or collect fingerprints to make sure those areas are not molested or destroyed in any way.”
Williams added: “So I am deeply concerned that there was not an immediate request by the sheriff to our local crime lab to get in there and examine, document, preserve and collect all of the forensic evidence that was available there so that we could already have it tested.”
At a press conference, Hutson criticized the political rhetoric used by the governor and D.A. while some of the escapees remain at large. She said: “Political people are making this a political issue.” She added: “This incident has once again highlighted the critical need for repairs and upgrades to our facilities, particularly to ensure that doors and locks are fully functional.”