NEW ORLEANS — Police have arrested a maintenance worker who is suspected of helping 10 inmates break out of a New Orleans jail on Friday, Louisiana's attorney general has announced.

The employee, identified as 33-year-old Sterling Williams, was arrested on Monday night.

Williams is accused of turning off the water to the cell that was used for the escape, which involved removing a toilet from the wall. He said an inmate threatened to attack him with a "shank" — meaning makeshift knife — if he did not help, according to court documents.

Five of the inmates have been recaptured so far, Louisiana State Police said.

Police earlier said several of the detainees were facing charges of murder and other violent offenses.

Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill said in her statement that Williams had "admitted to agents that one of the escapees advised him to turn the water off in the cell where the inmates escaped from".

"Instead of reporting the inmate, Williams turned the water off as directed allowing the inmates to carry out their scheme to successfully escape," she added.

He said he was forced to help the inmates escape, telling authorities that Antoine Massey — one of the six inmates still at large — "threatened to shank him if he did not turn the water off", according to court documents.

Williams is facing 10 counts of a charge known as principal to simple escape, and another of malfeasance in office.

Murrill said the investigation was ongoing, and that authorities would "uncover all the facts eventually and anyone who aided and abetted will be prosecuted to the full extent the law allows".

"I encourage anyone who knows anything and even those who may have provided assistance to come forward now to obtain the best possible outcome in their particular case," she said.

Sheriff Susan Hutson earlier said the inmates had yanked a sliding door from their jail cell off its tracks in the early hours of Friday morning.

They later ripped the toilet off the wall and broke metal bars around a hole used for piping that was exposed by the missing toilet.

The group made their escape by climbing down a wall and running across a highway, the sheriff said.

The sheriff's office released images of messages apparently left behind by the inmates.

They include the words "To [sic] Easy LoL", with an arrow pointing to the hole in the wall, and a smiley face with its tongue out.

Another message, partially smudged, appears to tell officers to catch the inmates when they can.

The prison is located near the centre of New Orleans, around 3km (2 miles) from its famous French Quarter. — BBC