Two juveniles who escaped from the Illinois Youth Center at Valley View after allegedly assaulting a security officer were back in custody Thursday after less than 12 hours on the run.
Acting on a tip, West Chicago police picked up the 16-year-olds near Illinois Highway 59 and Illinois Highway 64 at about 10 a.m., said Illinois Department of Corrections spokesman Nic Howell.
The youths escaped from the detention facility near St. Charles after overpowering a security guard. At about 10:45 p.m. Wednesday, the teens wrapped a staff member in the housing unit with a the cord of battery adaptor kept in a sock, then beat the employee with his own flashlight, Howell said.
The unidentified security officer suffered several head lacerations and was treated and released at Delnor-Community Hospital in Geneva, Howell said.
One of the teens is serving time for residential burglary in Lake County; the other for theft in Downstate Menard County.
Howell said they will be transferred to a maximum security juvenile facility in Joliet and, once the state’s investigation is complete, the case will be referred to the Kane County state’s attorney’s office for possible charges regarding the attack on the security guard.
According to Howell, 373 juveniles are incarcerated at the Valley View facility, which has a designed capacity of 228.