NEW ORLEANS — A jail maintenance worker who is accused of helping almost a dozen inmates escape the New Orleans facility said one of the inmates threatened him if he didn’t help them in their bid for freedom.

Ten prisoners at the Orleans Parish Justice Center broke out of the jail on Friday, ABC News reported. So far, four of the prisoners have been recaptured while six are still on the run.

They got out of the jail by opening a faulty cell door, moving a toilet and squeezing out of the hole.

They taunted the authorities with graffiti on the wall near the hole that read “To Easy LoL” and an arrow pointing to the opening, The Associated Press reported.

A single guard was overseeing the area but he had gone to get food before they escaped.

They started tampering with a lock on a cell door at 12:22 a.m., as seen on surveillance video, after going under standard nightly lockdown at 10:30 p.m. Thursday, CNN reported.

They broke out of jail around 1 a.m. on Friday, but they were not discovered missing until a routine headcount was conducted at about 8:30 a.m. local time, officials said. U.S. Marshals, the Louisiana State Police and Probation and Parole were notified about an hour later. New Orleans police were told at 10:30 a.m., or about two hours after the escape was first discovered, ABC News reported.

The district attorney said he learned of the jailbreak from the media, CNN reported.

Initially, jail officials thought 11 prisoners escaped, but one had earlier been moved to a different cell.

The maintenance worker, identified as Sterling Williams, told law enforcement that he was told by one of the prisoners to turn off the cell’s water, the Attorney General’s office said. Williams claims that one of the inmates threatened to shank him if he didn’t comply. Another man tried to take Williams’ phone and bring a book with cash app information, the AP said.

By turning off the water, officials said Williams, “willfully and maliciously assisted with the escape.”

“If the inmates removed the sink in the cell and disconnected the rest of the plumbing with the water still on, the plan to escape would not have been successful and potentially flooded the cell, drawing attention to their actions,” an arrest affidavit said.

He is charged with 10 counts of principle to simple escape and malfeasance in office.

Four of the men still on the run are charged with second-degree murder.

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