10 Escaped Inmates, a Hole Behind a Toilet, and a Taunt: All About an 'Inside Job' Jailbreak — and Who's Still Missing

Louisiana law enforcement officials are still scrambling nearly a week after 10 inmates escaped through a hole behind a toilet, leaving their captors a taunting message on the wall: “To Easy LOL.”

State officials have said they have been able to track down and rearrest five of the 10 inmates who escaped last Friday morning, May 16, in a daring breakout that Orleans Parish Sheriff Susan Hutson called an “inside job,” according to USA Today.

Hutson on Tuesday suspended her re-election campaign, saying she needed to focus on “restoring public trust” in law enforcement and her own ability to handle the job, as other politicians posted law and order messages on social media amid the public fallout over last week’s dramatic escape. 

Officials allege Sterling Williams, a maintenance worker, assisted the inmates in the escape, shutting off water to a toilet and sink inside a cell that were later ripped out by the inmates who then escaped through the hole in the wall, according to USA Today, BBC, and CBS News. Williams, 33, was arrested but told police he decided to go along with the inmates’ request to shut off the water to the cell after his life was threatened.

“Instead of reporting the inmate, Williams turned the water off as directed, allowing the inmates to carry out their scheme to successfully escape,” Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill claimed, according to BBC.

Jail surveillance video obtained by the outlets show two inmates ripping open the door to the cell where the water had been shut off. Inside, the inmates then cut through the pipes connected to the sink and toilet to remove them and escape through the wall.

“Obviously, when they cut through these pipes, they would have flooded the cell, and that would have alerted people to a problem,” Murrill said, according to USA Today, adding that authorities believe Williams had “multiple days of involvement” in the prison escape plot. “We think it was more than just that night.”

The maintenance worker’s bond was set at $1.1 million, Murrill announced on social media, warning others against helping the escapees who remain free.

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The former prisoners who have continued to evade police for nearly a week include Leo Tate, Jermaine Donald, Derrick Groves, Lenton Vanburen and Antoine Massey, according to USA Today, while Corey Boyd, Gary Price, Kendell Myles, Robert Moody, and Dkenan Dennis have been re-arrested.

CBS News reports that the men who escaped range in age between 19 and 42 years old and have been imprisoned for a variety of crimes, including murder, assault, and domestic abuse. 

Surveillance video from outside the prison, obtained by BBC, shows at least two of the escapees running across traffic on a nearby highway during the daring escape. According to CBS News, surveillance video also showed two of the wanted men walking through the French Quarter on Friday just hours after they escaped from the Orleans Parish Prison, which is located less than two miles away.