An escaped Mississippi inmate and a prison employee who allegedly helped him break out have both been arrested. 

Ryan Burks, 39, managed to escape from the Carroll County Regional Correctional Facility on Wednesday. 

Carroll County deputies said the facility went into lockdown and began emergency procedures after Burks made his escape.

Officials at the prison then discovered that kitchen employee Leslie Nichole McNeil, 44, had also left the property with Bucks in her car. 

The two were then traced with authorities moving in to try and stop the vehicle, with the pair disobeying commands. 

Officials said that the car was eventually wrecked after a traffic stop, with both occupants being arrested shortly after. 

Burks was handed over to the sheriff's office before being transferred into the custody of the Mississippi Department of Corrections. 

While McNeal was taken to a local hospital for treatment and then charged with felony aiding and abetting. She is currently being held in Lafayette County Jail.

Burks was arrested for felony fleeing in a motor vehicle and possession of a weapon by a convicted felon. 

He had been serving time for two counts of sexual battery and burglary when he made his botched escape attempt having been sentenced in January 2006. 

In July of those year two inmates of a Mississippi jail in Claiborne County were captured after breaking free for over 24 hours. 

Tyrekennel Collins, 24, and Dezarrious Johnson, 18, were both captured at an abandoned residence after escaping a detention center. 

The two inmates were considered dangerous by authorities and were being held on murder charges at the time of their escape. 

Due to the fumbled escape, they were then hit with an additional charge of escape, which comes with a further five years in prison. 

According to figures from 2000 to 2019, the number of escapees from state and federal prisons has dropped significantly. 

In 2019, 2,231 inmates escaped from state or federal prisons, which was a decreased from the previous year when 2,351 prisoners escaped from facilities. 

The most recent numbers are current less than half of what was counted in 2000, with 5,168 escapes across state and federal jails.