FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Inmate Sentenced to 60 Years in Prison
After Being Caught with Contraband in Rayburn Correctional Center
November 11, 2025
District Attorney Collin Sims reports that on November 5, 2025, Judge William H. Burris sentenced 30-year-old Derrell Hilton of New Orleans to 60 years in prison after a Washington Parish jury found Hilton guilty of Possession of contraband in a correctional facility and Obstruction of justice by tampering with evidence. The jury returned its guilty verdicts on September 16, 2025, at the conclusion of a 2-day trial over which Judge Burris presided. Assistant District Attorneys Le’Anne Malnar and Roy Burns prosecuted the case. Lieutenant Colonel Richard Forbes with the Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections headed the investigation.
According to testimony from the trial, a correctional officer at the B.B. “Sixty” Rayburn Correctional Center in Angie was making security rounds when he observed Hilton, an inmate at the facility, acting suspicious. The officer instructed Hilton to open his mouth for a contraband check but Hilton ignored the instruction. The officer checked Hilton’s pants pockets and removed a small package containing what appeared to be an illegal substance. As the officer attempted to inspect the substance, Hilton snatched the package from the officer’s hand and fled to the recreation yard. Multiple officers pursued Hilton and subdued him. While being subdued, Hilton discarded the package. Upon inspection, the package was found to contain buprenorphine, a controlled dangerous substance.
At the time of the incident, Hilton was being housed at the Rayburn Correctional Center while serving a 14-year prison sentence on 6 charges from Orleans Criminal District Court involving armed robbery, aggravated assault with a firearm and unauthorized use of a motor vehicle. In addition to the previously mentioned convictions, Hilton has convictions from Orleans Criminal District Court for aggravated flight, illegal use of weapons, aggravated criminal damage to property and possession of marijuana.
On the contraband charge, Hilton was sentenced as a habitual offender and received a 60-year prison term. He was sentenced to 5 years in prison for the obstruction of justice charge, which was ordered to run concurrent with the 60-year sentence.