On April 5, 2006, McNair escaped custody from a prison near Pollock, Louisiana.[3] McNair's duties in prison included work in a manufacturing area, where he would repair old, torn mailbags. He held this position for several months, throughout which McNair plotted his escape. McNair escaped by hiding himself in a specially-constructed "escape pod" (which included a breathing tube), which was buried under a pile of mailbags. The pallet was shrink-wrapped and forklifted to a nearby warehouse outside of the prison fence. After prison staff delivered McNair's pallet and went for lunch, McNair cut himself out of his "escape pod" and walked through the unsecured area to freedom. Federal investigators believed that McNair must have received help from other inmates to escape,[2] but McNair has always maintained that he acted alone.

McNair's pallet was shipped out of the prison around 9:45am, and he was able to exit the pallet around 11:00am. McNair was aware that it would not be until 4:00pm that the prison would find him missing. McNair's plan was to move to the nearby town of Alexandria, Louisiana, where he would then steal supplies and transportation.[4]

Hours after his escape from Pollock, McNair was stopped while jogging on a railroad track near Ball, Louisiana by police officer Carl Bordelon. The location of where he was stopped is 31.409,-92.417. Despite having no identification and giving two different names, McNair successfully convinced Bordelon that he was jogging and in town to help on a post-Katrina roofing project. This incident was captured on a video camera mounted in Bordelon's patrol car. McNair proceeded to give Officer Bordelon the alias of Robert Jones. When asked again five minutes later, he gave a different alias, Jimmy Jones. Bordelon did not pick up on this. McNair laughed and joked with the officer, and even as the officer got a matching description of the inmate, McNair appeared collected and calm. Within 10 minutes McNair was back to 'jogging'.[5]

Several factors made it easier for McNair to escape arrest: the photo provided to police was very low-quality and six months old; and, the prison had told police that they were not completely sure that McNair had escaped. The extreme heat and humidity (113F/45C with 80% humidity), with the officer's black uniform and body armour, may have affected the officer's concentration.[4] Bordelon himself claimed that he let McNair escape because the physical description of McNair given to police was completely different than how McNair actually appeared. Over the ten minutes that Bordelon questioned McNair, McNair remained cool and provided completely plausible explanations, eventually convincing Bordelon that his alibi was true.[2]

McNair later wrote that he did not see the cruiser because it was blocked from view by trees, and that he planned to run if he was not able to convince Bordelon of his innocence. McNair later refuted the suggestion that he would have assaulted the police officer if confronted, claiming that he had renounced violence after his initial arrest. McNair described his escape as a "get out of jail free card", and described his feelings after the confrontation with Bordelon as "relief, disbelief, bewilderment." McNair agreed that he did not resemble his prison picture.[4]