2001 Ford Escape Driver's Door Latch is Jammed

My 2001 Ford Escape driver’s inside door latch (on the door itself) is jammed and won’t disengage, so that the door won’t close now. Even the light on the front panel doesn’t show that the door is actually open. Because the latch is not in the “open” position, it’s hitting the bar that it should be attaching to. My remote key lock doesn’t do anything, nor does using the key by inserting it into the lock directly. It just happened all of a sudden! Is this a safety lock issue or anti-theft malfunction? Any ideas how to “unjam” this??

Look carefully at the latch on the back edge of the drivers door, then go around and look at the latch on the passenger side. The difference is that some component of the passenger side latch has moved into position to relatch, and the drivers side has not. Then go back to the drivers side, pull the inside handle into the full open the door position, and push the moveable part of the latch into the “door open” position you saw on the other side.