An inmate in France briefly found freedom last week after staging an ‘extremely rare’ prison escape with the help of a cellmate who just regained his freedom.

Elyazid A, also known as ‘the Joker’ or ‘the Equaliser’, hid in a laundry bag filled with clothes to evade guards and slip right out of the prison.

However, his newfound freedom was shortlived as he was quickly tracked down and sent back in.

A video circulating on social media appears to show the bag ‘the Joker’ was hiding in while his cellmate, who was released on Friday, wheeled him out of Lyon-Corbas prison on a trolley.

The 20-year-old was eventually caught the following day while leaving a cellar on the outskirts of Lyon.

Elyazid had been serving at least two prison sentences and was under investigation for alleged criminal association and conspiracy to murder. The cellmate that assisted him with the escape is still at large.

The director of France’s prison administration Sebastien Cauwel has said that Elyazid’s escape was ‘extremely rare’ and pointed blame towards overcrowding in the jail.

He told BFMTV: ‘This is an extremely rare event that we have never experienced in this administration, and which clearly reveals a whole series of serious dysfunctions.

‘This facility has an occupancy rate of 170%. This clearly makes working conditions more difficult for our staff.

‘What this incident reveals is rather an accumulation of material errors, possibly faults, which the investigation will bring to light.’

The justice minister Gérald Darmanin has since ordered investigations into the escape, while Lyon public prosecutors, the French prison service and Lyon-Corbas jail itself have all done the same.