‘To Easy Lol’: eight prisoners still on the loose after daring jailbreak in New Orleans
17 May 2025, 08:23
Ten US prisoners pulled off a Shawshank Redemption style jailbreak on Friday, leaving authorities mystified after they escaped through a hole hidden behind a toilet.
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Two of the escaped prisoners have been recaptured, but eight of the men - some of them convicted murderers - could still be “frankly anywhere“ in the US.
The ten men fled the New Orleans jail on Friday through a hole in the wall hidden behind a toilet, before using blankets to scale a barbed wire fence and dashing across a nearby highway.
The men are believed to have escaped while the guard assigned to their shared cell was away getting food.
Authorities believe the escapees may have had inside help from prison staff.
Their absence went unnoticed for more than seven hours, until a routine headcount the next morning revealed they were missing.
A photograph of the hole the prisoners escaped through showed messages scrawled on the wall that read: “To Easy LoL”, with an arrow pointing towards the hole.
Read More: Prison officer's throat slashed by inmate as staff attacks surge in high-security jails
In another move reminiscent of the hugely popular 1994 prison break movie, The Shawshank Redemption, the men ditched their prison clothes shortly after escaping from the facility. It is still unclear how they obtained regular clothes so quickly.
Orleans Parish Sheriff Susan Hutson said there are indications that people inside her department helped the men escape.
"It's almost impossible, not completely, but almost impossible for anybody to get out of this facility without help."
The escaped prisoners range from 19 to 42 years old. Among them are Derrick Groves, who was convicted on two counts of murder and two of attempted murder for his part in he shootings of two men at Mardi Gras in 2018.
Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill called the escape "beyond unacceptable" and said local authorities had waited too long to inform the public.
She said she reached out to neighbouring states to alert them about the escaped prisoners, saying they have had enough time to get to "frankly anywhere across the country".
