New Orleans Prison Break

A New Orleans jail maintenance worker was arrested Monday for helping 10 inmates escape last week. The 33-year-old employee—who says he acted under duress—shut off water in a jail cell, allowing inmates to remove a toilet and sink fixture, dig a hole, and flee. Before leaving, they scrawled messages on the cell wall: "we innocent" and "to easy LOL" (sic).

The inmates—ages 19 to 42—were being held in Orleans Parish jail on charges including murder and armed robbery. After escaping through a hole in the cell, the inmates ran down a flight of stairs, scaled the prison wall, and fled on foot on Interstate 10. Four have since been recaptured; a search for the six others is ongoing. The escape, which went undetected for hours, is believed to be among the largest in Louisiana's history.

Orleans Parish jail has been under a federal consent decree since 2013, designed to address conditions including overcrowding and understaffing. Observers say some areas of the jail have gone unsupervised for hours.