Manhunt For Escaped Inmates Continues
By Samantha Abernethy in News on Dec 19, 2012 5:20PM
Authorities are still on the hunt for two convicted bank robbers who escaped from Chicago's downtown high-rise federal correctional facility on Tuesday morning. Having been out of the joint for more than 24 hours, authorities realize the two escaped inmates could be anywhere, but the manhunt is still primarily focused on the Chicago area.
The two men were last seen in their cell at 10 p.m. Monday, and according to the Sun-Times, "It’s unclear what happened at the usual head counts about midnight and then at 3 a.m. and 5 a.m."
Jail employees realized something was wrong when they spotted a rope hanging on the outside of the building around 7 a.m. That's when they did a headcount and discovered the two inmates had pulled a Ferris Bueller, stuffing their beds with blankets, so it appeared they were asleep in their beds.
They found a clean slice near the base of the 5-inch-wide cell window and busted-out cinder-block underneath it, creating a big enough hole to slip through.They found metal bars from the window in one mattress — and a set of fake metal bars, too.
The officers found homemade harnesses, perhaps fashioned from a stretcher used for prisoners.
Jose Banks, aka the Secondhand Bandit, was convicted last week of robbing four banks. Kenneth Conley pleaded guilty in October to robbing a bank. Conley was caught when he flaunted his loot at a strip club. Banks was known for his crazy crime costumes. Authorities say Banks was also an aspiring fashion designer, and he may have used his sewing to make his escape down a 17-story makeshift rope of bedsheets.
Banks also created a commotion in court last week while he represented himself, and he ended up strapped to a chair screaming at the judge, "You’ll hear from me!” Authorities also believe Banks has $500,000 stashed away somewhere, money he'd stolen that they'd never found.
According to the Tribune, the FBI is offering a $50,000 reward for information on the whereabouts of the two jailbirds. This is only the second ever successful escape from the Metropolitan Correctional Center. The other was in 1985, and both of those inmates were re-apprehended within months.
After the cellmates' escape was discovered Tuesday morning, authorities stormed buildings in the area of the prison including a parking structure, a Greyhound bus station, a Metra train station and Conley's mother's Tinley Park home. They're still empty-handed, and the manhunt continues.