OPELOUSAS, La. – Authorities are intensifying their search for the final escapee out of three inmates who fled from a parish jail in southwestern Louisiana, exploiting a crumbling wall. St. Landry Parish Sheriff Bobby J. Guidroz emphasized the urgency of the hunt for 24-year-old Keith Eli, who has been on the run for three days after escaping a facility that faced intense scrutiny for its vexing structural issues.
Detectives, along with SWAT teams, diligently followed leads to track Eli down, who was incarcerated on charges of second-degree murder. Meanwhile, two other inmates involved in the breakout have faced different fates: Johnathan Jevon Joseph, also 24, was apprehended following a brief chase, while the third escapee, Joseph Allen Harrington, 26, tragically took his life as police urged him to surrender.
The escape has raised alarms about jail security protocols, particularly given it wasn’t the first jailbreak this year in Louisiana. In a shocking previous incident, a group of ten inmates escaped from another facility in New Orleans, orchestrating their exit through a hole behind a toilet. This underlines growing concerns about the condition of numerous correctional institutions throughout the state.
Details emerging from the recent escape reveal that the inmates were able to dismantle an area of the upper wall over time, effectively loosening enough concrete blocks to slip through undetected. After scaling the jail's outer wall using makeshift sheets as ropes, they dropped onto a roof, using ingenuity to make their escape.
The St. Landry Parish jail staff, including Sheriff Guidroz, now face an internal investigation focused on the jail's infrastructure and security measures to prevent similar incidents in the future.
