Second Escaped Inmate Caught In Suburbs

By Samantha Abernethy in News on Jan 4, 2013 11:15PM

The second of the two inmates who escaped from the high-rise prison downtown has been captured. Was he on a beach in Mexico? Nope, just the suburbs.

Convicted bank robber Kenneth Conley, 38, was arrested around 4 p.m. on Friday. Conley and his cellmate Jose Banks escaped from the Metropolitan Correctional Center on Dec. 18. Banks was caught on the North Side of Chicago on Dec. 20. Conley didn't make it much further — just Palos Hills.

The two fugitives created a makeshift rope out of bedsheets and shimmied down 17 stories to escape from the high-rise prison. Jail employees realized something was wrong when they spotted a rope hanging on the outside of the building. 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.

The FBI recently released new photos and more information in an effort to capture Conley. Prosecutors decided this week not to add escape charges to the litany of bank robbery charges that Banks already faces.