It’s only been seven months since nearly a dozen inmates escaped from the Orleans Parish Prison in Louisiana. All of those escapees has since been recaptured, but now, just two hours northwest of that New Orleans’ facility, authorities executed yet another manhunt for inmates who also managed to escape— and one is still at large.
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Social media had a field day when 10 Orleans Parish Prison inmates removed a sink-toilet unit from the wall, broke through a hole behind it and fled through a loading dock, we previously reported in May. Their brazen escape, which was captured on surveillance footage and went viral, showed the inmates fleeing in various directions. Three were captured later that same day, and the others were apprehended throughout the year, including the last man standing Derrick Groves. He was captured in Atlanta in early October.
Now, three more inmates escaped from another Louisiana jail. According to NBC News, Johnathan Jevon Joseph, Keith Eli and Joseph Allen Harrington removed concrete blocks from a deteriorating wall and used bed sheets to climb down the outer wall. They scaled down to a first-floor roof and lowered themselves to the ground and fled on Dec. 3.
Of the three escaped inmates, authorities are still looking for 24-year-old Keith Eli, who had been jailed for a second-degree murder charge. St. Landry Parish Sheriff Bobby J. Guidroz said in a statement how they “would prefer that he surrender himself peaceably, but we will not rest until he is captured.”
Thanks to a tip, authorities found the second escaped inmate, Johnathan Jevon Joseph, 24, hiding out in a home two days after he escaped. Joseph, charged with rape, initially ran to a storage shed, but ultimately surrendered after being surrounded, Maj. Mark LeBlanc, a spokesman for the sheriff said.
The third inmate, Joseph Allen Harrington, was spotted riding a bike on Thursday (Dec. 4) in Port Barre after a tip led authorities to his cousin’s residence, news station KLFY reported. Police used a loudspeaker in an attempt to convince the 26-year-old to exit the home, but he did not. Instead, a young woman and a child walked out during a standoff with police before officers heard a single gunshot. Harrington, who had been facing nine felony charges, died by suicide with a hunting rifle.
St. Landry Parish Sheriff Bobby Guidroz admitted, per KADN News, how the facility where the trio escaped from “is 45 years old,” “overcrowded” and in desperate need of “a lot of maintenance.” However, Parish President Jessie Bellard declared the facility “is safe” and “sturdy.” Bellard, according to local news station WMGT 41, said, “Our engineers gave it a clean bill of health when they inspected it last year.”
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