One of New Orleans' Antoine Massey's most wanted fugitives is making his case on Instagram and reaching out to some big-name folks for aid. Antoine Massey, 33, is one of two prisoners who remain on the loose after escaping from Orleans Parish Prison in a daring jailbreak on May 16. But in his telling, he didn't "break out," he was "let out."
In an unfiltered, shaky video uploaded to the internet, Massey addresses the camera as if he were FaceTiming the world, pleading for help from Meek Mill, Lil Wayne, NBA YoungBoy, and, yes, former President Donald Trump.
"I'm not going to lie. I was causing trouble. The person that I was, I'm not that person," Massey says in the clip. I have a 3-year-old son and a daughter who is 18 and graduated. People don't know that."
What makes this all the more surreal is that Massey isn't just evading capture but putting out a full-blown PR appeal. With no defense attorney of his own and a growing sense of urgency, he's counting on prominent people to spotlight what he says is a system that let him down.
"I wasn't even able to find a lawyer, and I didn't even have the money to pay for a lawyer to prove his innocence," he says, clutching his phone like a lifeline. I didn't break out; I was released."
The escape might have been written into a screenplay: Ten inmates pried open defective cell doors, dug out a toilet to carve a hidden path, and clambered over a wall. Before officials noticed they were gone, nearly seven hours passed. Eight of the 10 have been recaptured. Massey and 28-year-old Derrick Groves, who was convicted of second-degree murder, are the only ones who remain at large.
At least 13 people, including jail staff and external accomplices, have already been arrested in connection with the escape. But the video from Massey reeks of something more profound: that his escape from jail was not so much an escape as it was an orchestrated release.
His shoutout to Meek Mill is fitting, too. In 2019, the Philly rapper co-founded the REFORM Alliance with Jay-Z and other artists to call for criminal justice reform and get hundreds of thousands out of the system. So, it appears Massey is hoping Meek sees in him a fresh project to fight for.
It is an odd plea for help, part confession, part appeal for rectification, part Hail Mary. If, say, Meek, Weezy, YoungBoy, or Trump's answer is anyone's guess. For now, Massey remains somewhere, a fugitive with a phone, a story to tell, and a social media connection robust enough to carry his voice beyond the prison walls.
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