Inmate Stripped Off His Orange Jumpsuit, Spent 1 Hour on Courthouse Ledge

**kellyhound** · #1 ● 07-08-2016, 06:54 AM

An Orleans Parish inmate escaped, stripped off his orange jail jumpsuit and spent nearly an hour on a ledge Tuesday morning (July 5) behind the Criminal District Courthouse.

A law enforcement source identified the inmate as Devontay Jenkins, an 18-year-old awaiting trial for two counts of aggravated battery and 12 counts of simple burglary.

Jenkins is expected to have an additional count of simple escape added to his ledger after Tuesday's excursion.

Emergency responders were at the scene as of 8 a.m. Negotiators offered the inmate a cigarette at 8:53 a.m., then pulled him off the ledge four minutes later by his arm and underwear.

The inmate appeared to have gotten loose from an area known as "The Docks," a waypoint where inmates with court dates are transferred from the Orleans Justice Center jail to the courthouse on Tulane Avenue at Broad Street. Orleans Parish deputy sheriffs handle the inmate transfers.

Orleans Parish Sheriff's Office spokesman Philip Stelly said the inmate negotiated with the agency's new mental health director, Dr. Lisa Tropez-Arceneaux, who was at the scene communicating with him through a nearby guard tower of the shuttered Orleans Parish Prison.

Stelly said Tropez-Arceneaux indicated the inmate was "in crisis."

After luring him close to hand him a cigarette, the authorities grabbed him by the arm when he reached up again a few minutes later.

After stripping down to his gray underwear shortly before 8 a.m., the inmate draped his orange jumpsuit over the ledge, about 2 1/2 stories off the ground. Besides deputies and police, Emergency Medical Services and three Fire Department trucks were on the scene.

Police used crime scene tape to cordon much of the 600 block of South White Street, across from the district attorney's office.