FBI offers huge reward as manhunt continues for prisoners who escaped 'Shawshank' style after leaving wild three-word message
Emily Brown
Featured Image Credit: Orleans Parish Sheriff's Office
The FBI has doubled the reward money on offer for six fugitives who were among 10 inmates to escape from the Orleans Parish Jail in a 'Shawshank'-style jail break.
Fans of the 1994 thriller The Shawshank Redemption will be familiar with how Andy Dufresne managed to find freedom through a hole in his cell wall, and on May 16 the group of 10 convicts followed a similar path when they made a break for it by slipping through a hole behind a toilet in the prison.
Four of the escapees have since been captured, but six remain on the loose.
The convicts range in age from 19 to 42, and had been placed in jail for a range of charges including aggravated assault, domestic abuse battery and murder.
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As the jail came under scrutiny, Orleans Parish Sheriff Susan Hutson said 'defective locks' had played a part in the escape after her office had asked for money to fix the faulty mechanisms just days earlier.
Hutson also admitted the inmates may have had help in making their way to the hole behind the toilet and escaping, saying: “It’s almost impossible, not completely, but almost impossible for anybody to get out of this facility without help."
Before they left the jail, the inmates appeared to mock security by scrawling a three-word message above the hole which read: "To [sic] Easy LoL."
Surveillance footage revealed how the inmates then sprinted out of the jail and scaled a fence, where they used blankets to protect themselves from getting cut on barbed wire.
Initially, the FBI shared a release in which it revealed it had 'surged resources to assist with apprehending inmates who escaped from the Orleans Parish Jail on May 16, 2025'.
The agency announced it was offering a reward of up to $5,000 for tips leading to the arrest of any of the inmates, but as the majority continue to evade capture, the reward amount has now increased.
FBI Special Agent Jonathan Trapp announced that the agency is now offering $10,000 per inmate - and it's not the only money being offered.
CrimeStoppers is also offering a reward of $5,000, up from $2,000, while the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is offering $5,000.
The 10 inmates who initially fled the jail have been identified as Dkenan Dennis, Gary C. Price, Robert Moody, Kendell Myles, Corey E. Boyd, Lenton J. VanBuren Jr., Jermaine Donald, Antoine T. Massey, Derrick D. Groves, Leo O. Tate Sr.
Myles was among the first to be captured in New Orleans' French Quarter, where he was apprehended by the Louisiana State Police.
Police have also captured Moody, 21 and Dennis, 24, who were taken by helicopter to a state correctional facility outside the New Orleans area after being captured.
Most recently, Price was found by authorities and returned to custody on Monday (May 19).