I know of a few Illinois politicians that should be on the inside of the gray bar hotel looking out instead of in.
I grew up about 5 miles from menard.They would have an escape about every 2 months or so, mostly trustees walking away from the farm.Being primarily a rural area, the convicts would head to the creek bottoms and you could hear the bloodhounds on the chase.One year a deputy from Chester gave a hitch hiker a ride who turned out to be an escapee. He, the convict, hancuffed the deputy to a tree and got away with the police car.