OPELOUSAS - Police are looking for a Madison Parish inmate who kicked out the back window of a prison transport van and escaped — a move he's used before. 

The Opelousas Police Department told KATC that 23-year-old Raymond Latrelle Howard, an accused rapist, was being transported from an Opelousas courthouse and back to the Madison Parish jail.

While in Madison Parish deputies' custody, Howard jumped out of the rear window. People reportedly saw the escapee run across the road, ditch his orange jumpsuit and disappear into the woods. 

Law enforcement is actively searching for Howard, who pulled off the same escape in 2024. That time, he was being held in Claiborne Parish and was being driven to a court appearance in Opelousas when he kicked the rear window out and ran away. 

Anyone with information about Howard's whereabouts is asked to call police.