New Orleans — Ten men who broke out of a New Orleans jail last week clogged a toilet to get the water shut off so that they could escape through a hole behind it, a lawyer for a maintenance worker who is charged with helping them said Wednesday.

In an arrest affidavit, Sterling Williams said one of the inmates who later escaped had threatened to “shank” him if he did not turn off the water.

A maintenance worker is accused of turning off the water in a cell, allowing 10 inmates to escape, the Louisiana attorney general’s office alleges.