Chicago prison escapee plans to plead guilty
A bank robber intends to plead guilty to a federal escape charge after he and a cellmate broke out of a high-rise Chicago lockup.
The Chicago Sun-Times reported Kenneth Conley’s attorney said at a status hearing Wednesday that his client is negotiating a plea agreement with prosecutors.
On Dec. 18, Conley and Jose Banks scaled down 17 stories of the Metropolitan Correctional Center using a rope fashioned from bed sheets and dental floss.
Banks was soon caught. Police stopped Conley disguised as an old man in a suburb only weeks later.
The 39-year-old was given a 20-year term in May for an earlier bank robbery. An escape conviction carries a maximum 5-year sentence.
Banks already faced up to 80 years for bank robbery, so authorities dropped the escape charge.