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2 bank robbers remain at large after escaping jail using makeshift rope

Investigators found a broken window and bars inside a mattress when they came upon the cell Tuesday morning

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A rope dangles from a window on the back side of the Metropolitan Correctional Center Tuesday, in Chicago. Two convicted bank robbers used a knotted rope or bed sheets to escape from the federal prison window high above downtown Chicago, a week after one of them made a courtroom vow of retribution, to federal judge. (AP Photo/M. Spencer Green)

CBSNEWS

CHICAGO — Police said two bank robbers remained at large Wednesday morning after pulling off a daring escape from downtown Chicago’s high-rise jail on Tuesday. The pair escaped by scaling down 15 floors of the building using a makeshift rope fashioned from bed sheets hanging from the bars of a cell window.

Authorities are now trying to figure when 37-year-old Joseph Banks and 38-year-old Kenneth Conley managed to flee from the jail cell they shared. Both men were accounted for a headcount around 10 p.m. Monday but they were reportedly missing during a 5 a.m. headcount Tuesday.

Investigators found a broken window and bars inside a mattress when they came upon the cell Tuesday morning, according to an FBI affidavit. Stuffed under blankets on two beds were clothing and sheets, shaped to resemble a body.

Full story: Chicago Prison Break Update: 2 bank robbers remain at large after escaping jail using makeshift rope, police say