By Tony Sapochetti
The Pantagraph
PONTIAC, Ill. — A Pontiac Correctional Center inmate tried to escape after attacking a guard and stealing his clothes, but he didn’t get very far before he was recognized, prison officials said Monday. | VIDEO: Brief history of Pontiac prison
A 23-year-old inmate in the maximum-security portion of the north cell house managed to escape from his cell around 11:30 p.m. Sunday, the Illinois Department of Corrections said in a prepared statement. He then attacked a 48-year-old correctional officer, knocking him unconscious, officials said.
The guard remained in fair condition Monday at OSF St. James–John W. Albrecht Medical Center, Pontiac.
Posing as a guard, the inmate tried to exit the cell house, but other officers on duty caught him before he could leave the cell house, officials said.
“These types of incidents are not tolerated, and we will continue to investigate and hopefully forward this to the state’s attorney for a successful prosecution,” department spokesman Derek Schnapp said.
The names of those involved in the case were withheld Monday pending charges from the Livingston County state’s attorney’s office.
The inmate was later transferred to Tamms Correctional Center, the state’s super-maximum security prison, Schnapp said.
The injured guard is expected to have surgery for a broken ankle, said Anders Lindall, spokesman for the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 31, which represents prison workers.
Pontiac prison will remained locked down with all inmates confined to their cells until DOC officials complete their investigation, and there was not estimate of when that would be, Schnapp said.
The inmate is serving two sentences of four years each for Bond County charges of aggravated discharge of a firearm and escape of a felon from a penal institution, the release said.
Schnapp said an escape attempt from a cell house is exceptionally rare.
According to DOC records, the last successful escape from Pontiac Correctional Center happened in March 1983, Schnapp said. That inmate, now serving a life sentence, escaped, kidnapped a Pontiac woman and her two children and raped her before being caught in Chicago.
A few hours after the guard was attacked at Pontiac late Sunday, two inmates escaped about 3 a.m. Monday at Dixon Springs-Impact Incarceration Program. It is a military-style boot camp in rural Pope County for first-time nonviolent offenders.
While Schnapp said the incidents appear to be unrelated, Lindall said there is a connection in a sense. They and other incidents in the prison system highlight problems of understaffing and overcrowding that the state has ignored.
“Now we are seeing a rash of violence and escapes that aren’t just putting employees at risk, but they are putting the public’s safety in danger,” he said.
Schnapp said that it is premature to link allegations of understaffing and overcrowding to be a reason for these incidents is premature.
“Safety and security is our priority, and that has not changed,” he said, adding the staff in the Pontiac incident reacted “professionally, appropriately.”
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