Ten men have broken out of a New Orleans jail by escaping through a hole behind a toilet while the lone guard assigned to their cell pod was away getting food.

Seven escapees, including murder suspects, are still on the loose following the breakout in the early hours of Friday morning.

Surveillance footage, shared with media during a news conference, showed the escapees sprinting out of the facility - some wearing orange clothing and others in white.

They scaled a fence, using blankets to avoid being cut by barbed wire, and then some could be seen sprinting across the nearby interstate and into a neighborhood.

A photograph shows the hole in the cell wall, which has been annotated with the message "To Easy LoL" and an arrow pointing at the gap.

The inmates' absence was only noticed hours later when they were missing from a Friday morning headcount.

The first to be captured was Kendall Myles - who was apprehended after a brief chase on foot.

By Friday evening, two more fugitives, Robert Moody and Dkenan Dennis, had been captured.

Orleans Parish Sheriff Susan Hutson said the men were able to get out of the Orleans Justice Center because of “defective locks”, which she said she had raised concerns about multiple times.

There is also suspicion the men had help on the inside.

“It’s almost impossible, not completely, but almost impossible for anybody to get out of this facility without help," she said of the jail, where 1,400 people are being held.

The escapees yanked open a door to enter the cell with the hole around 1am.

At least one of the steel bars protecting plumbing fixtures “appeared to have been intentionally cut using a tool,” according to a statement from the Orleans Parish Sheriff’s Office on Friday night.

Three employees have been placed on suspension pending the outcome of the investigation, although it is not clear whether any of these are suspected of helping with the escape.