Last fugitives surrender after escaping Cook County Jail

February 13, 2006 (CICERO, Ill.) (WLS) -- All six inmates who escaped from the Cook County Jail over the weekend are back behind bars. The final two fugitives surrendered after a standoff early Monday morning. Now, authorities are trying to determine how the inmates overpowered a jail guard on Saturday night.

"These were the worst of the worst," Cook County Sheriff Michael Sheahan said of the men who broke out of a special detention unit around midnight Saturday. And he praised local law enforcement for apprehending all six without firing a shot.

The last three escaped inmates--Eric Bernard, 22, Tyrone Everhart, 28, and Francisco Romero, 23 -- were found in a Cicero apartment with a woman indentified as Angela Parker and five children.

"The call was made by the female tenant's roommate apparently who left the premises once he recognized the three individuals who were in the apartment and apparently borrowed somebody's cell phone to call our police," said Dan Proft, Cicero Town spokesman.

Romero surrendered to police around midnight Monday, and brought two of the children out with him. The other two held police at bay for a bit longer.

"Obviously they looked out each window and didn't know where to go. And they were desperate, but weren't that desperate that they tried to run. And they didn't hurt anyone. And that was the key to making sure we brought them back into custody without anybody getting hurt," said Sheriff Sheahan.

"He started yelling "give me my rights. Give me my rights." And they read the rights and were taken away," said Salvadore Vaca, witness.

The five children were not injured. They were taken into custody while police question Parker.

"They were scared what was going to happen," said Janie Vaca, children's relative.

"We all started crying and pacing back and forth because we felt useless. We could do nothing. We couldn't be able to help them or be there for them or comfort them," said Guadalupe Florez, children's relative.

Officials are trying to determine if Parker, who lives in the apartment, was providing refuge for the criminals. If so, she may face criminal charges. The children's father, who was not in the apartment during the standoff, said his girlfriend did not know the men had escaped from jail.

The woman reportedly knew Romero, according to a relative.

"They had talked before, but I don' t know if they're friends or what's the deal with him," said Jenny Balderas, woman's relative.

The escape was the second jail break since Friday and third since June. Before those incidents, no one had escaped from the jail for about a decade. Now officials are looking into security at the jail, which houses 10,000 inmates. Union officials said understaffing may be to blame.

"The danger to officers and the danger to the citizens at large has increased by the fact the county and sheriff's office had been unable to staff the jail to the required amounts," said T. Steven Calcaterra, Metropolitan Alliance of Police

Officials said one of the escapees overpowered a jail guard in the shower room, stole his uniform and then set six others free. They then lit a mattress on fire to get another guard's attention. They overpowered that guard and took his keys, which let them out into a parking lot. The inmate in the uniform was caught immediately while the others got away.

Officials said they will question the guard about the escape. "We have questions that haven't been appropriately answered," Sally Daly, spokeswoman, said.

Six hours after the escape, Oak Park police capture two of the escaped inmatesArnold Joyner, 43, of Chicago and David Earnest, 38. A third inmate, Michael McIntosh, 30, was arrested on the South Side Sunday evening.

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