Derrick Groves Has Done Some Very Scary Things and He Just Escaped From a New Orleans Jail

Given how tech-dependent the world is, something like a prison break hardly seems possible in 2025. While busting out of a penitentiary has never been common, it was easier back in the day. For example, the movie Escape from Alcatraz is based on a real incident that occurred in June 1962. Three men were able to bust out of the imposing island prison by way of ventilation ducts they slowly widened over time. They hid their escape using papier-mâché model heads that looked like them.

Decades later, inmates started flirting their way out of incarceration. In April 2022, a prison guard named Vicky White helped her inmate lover Casey White (no relation) flee from an Alabama jail. When the couple was caught, Vicky took her own life. A few years later, 10 inmates made a wild escape from a New Orleans jail. One of them, Derrick Groves, was in for some very serious crimes and will undoubtedly face more charges if and when he is caught. Here's what we know.

According to USA Today as of May 21, 2025, half of the escaped prisoners have been caught. Groves is one of the five men who is still at large. In October 2024, Groves was found guilty of two charges of second-degree murder and two charges of attempted second-degree murder, per a press release from the Orleans Parish District Attorney's Office. The incidents dated back to Mardi Gras 2018 when Groves fatally shot Jamar Robinson and Byron Jackson. He injured and permanently scarred two others.

Groves has a history of violence that led up to a bloody rampage during one of the city's most celebrated times. He later bragged on social media about what he did, reported Fox 8. Due to the nature of his crimes, family members of Groves's victims are fearing for their lives. They were told about the escape from a friend, not the police. "We didn't know what was going to happen, we didn't know how Derrick Groves felt ... whether he was coming for us, we didn't know," they told WWLTV.

They have gone into hiding because it's unclear when Groves, who was scheduled to be sentenced in July, could be caught. "It could be three months, six months, we don't know," they said. If Groves is caught, he will also face an additional charge of simple escape which could add anywhere from six months to five years to his upcoming sentence.

Groves has also pleaded guilty to two separate cases of manslaughter. Orleans Parish District Attorney Jason Williams told Fox 8 that "his name, his face, is involved in so many cases of violence." Williams was the one who prosecuted Groves and has felt very nervous since his escape, but not everyone feels this way.

Jasmine Groves is the 27-year-old's aunt and she told Fox 8 that her nephew is innocent. She points to the fact that Groves has been stabbed three times while in jail. "Just think about how horrible Orleans Parish Prison [has] to be, if you have more of a settled mind with him at Angola," she said. She hopes her nephew turns himself in and in the meantime, is "praying to the Lord that he is protected."