Authorities are still searching for the last of three inmates who made a brazen escape down the outer wall of a Louisiana jail last week, after one inmate was cornered in a storage shed and taken into custody, and another fatally shot himself in a home surrounded by police, officials said.
The inmates – all three of whom were being held on charges of a violent nature – escaped from the St. Landry Parish jail Wednesday after gradually removing mortar and concrete blocks from a wall and using sheets to scale down the outside and drop onto the first-floor roof, St. Landry Parish Sheriff Bobby Guidroz said in a social media post.
The inmate still at large, 24-year-old Keith Eli, was in the jail on an attempted second-degree murder charge, authorities said.
“We will continue our efforts, without end, to apprehend Keith Eli. We would prefer that he surrender himself peaceably, but we will not rest until he is captured,” Guidroz said in a news release on Friday.
Another inmate, Johnathon Joseph of Opelousas, was arrested after law enforcement acted on “numerous tips,” the sheriff said Friday. The 24-year-old, who had been jailed on charges of rape and other crimes, surrendered after first running into a storage shed near a home where he’d been hiding out, a spokesperson for the sheriff told the Associated Press.
A day earlier, Joseph Allen Harrington, 26, who faced several felony charges, including home invasion, killed himself after he was found, Port Barre Police Chief Deon Boudreaux told the AP over the phone.
Harrington was recognized by a tipster, who told police he was seen pushing a black e-bike, which was later found at a nearby home, according to AP.
Police used a loudspeaker to urge Harrington to come out of the home but later heard a gunshot. Harrington was found dead inside the house after shooting himself with a hunting rifle, Boudreaux told the AP.
This week’s incident marks the latest brazen escape from a Louisiana jail this year, after 10 inmates broke out of a New Orleans jail in May in a stunning overnight escape, using electric hair trimmers with multiple clipper blades to help cut their way through the cell walls. The last of those 10 escapees wasn’t recaptured until five months later at a home in Atlanta, according to US Marshals.
This is also the second escape from the St. Landry Parish Jail since October, when one inmate got away before being recaptured by the Opelousas Police Department, CNN affiliate KADN reported. In that escape, the inmate was a trustee – a prisoner typically granted special privileges – who was able to run away in the process of being escorted from one building to another, Guidroz told KADN.
The sheriff emphasized in the interview with KADN the jail is “overcrowded and it needs a lot of maintenance” –– a claim that has been disputed by the parish government.
“The claims about crumbling walls and rusted-out cell door locks are inaccurate. The Parish Jail does not have these structural issues, and I invite the Sheriff to produce documentation to substantiate his claims,” parish president Jessie Bellard wrote in a post on social media Saturday.
In a news conference on Thursday, Bellard said that the jail, built in 1982, is structurally sound.
“I want to make sure that people understand that this jail is not crumbling. It’s in good shape…we have the engineer reports to back that up,” Bellard affirmed during the news conference. Structural engineers inspected the jail last year and came back with a “clean bill of health,” he added.
Bellard instead attributed the escapes to a lack of manpower and training.
“It is unreasonable to expect one deputy to manage over 100 inmates on a floor, especially during night shifts,” he wrote. “The Sheriff must take responsibility for improving deputy pay to ensure we are competitive with surrounding parishes, properly compensating those who risk their lives daily.”
Bellard highlighted the need for improved security measures, including addressing the lack of security footage.
An internal investigation into Wednesday’s escape has been initiated, Guidroz said in a social media post, and the “the Jail Supervisory Staff will be providing a comprehensive report and both will be forwarded to my office for appropriate action.”
Sheriff’s department spokesperson Maj. Mark LeBlanc told the AP while he wasn’t aware of the building being similarly breached in the past, anyone will try to escape with enough time and opportunity.
“These three were just a little more creative than in years past,” he said.
Anyone with verifiable information on Eli’s whereabouts is being asked to submit an anonymous tip to St. Landry Crime Stoppers.
