Bail was set at $250,000 Wednesday for a woman accused of helping a convicted murderer escape from an Elgin mental health center, police said.
Lisa Mack, 38, of the 8000 block of South Dante Avenue in Chicago is charged with aiding the escape of a prisoner, a felony, authorities said.
Tolbert Walls, 31, who remained at large Wednesday, escaped from the Elgin Mental Health Center on Monday after apparently switching identification passes with a visitor, authorities said.
He was being held in the facility’s forensic unit since being found unfit for trial on armed robbery charges in July, police said.
On Tuesday, the Illinois Department of Human Services made visitation policy changes, effective immediately, at the mental health center. These include requiring visitors to leave a photo ID with the facility until they are ready to leave and to ensure that all visitors receive a hand stamp upon entering.
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The forensic treatment program is for those usually deemed unfit for trial. Officials said security is generally tighter within that program.
Walls was convicted of first-degree murder in the 1991 gang-related slaying of Jesse Fox, 14, on Chicago’s South Side, according to Cook County court records.
Walls was the second person to escape from the facility in recent years. Angelo Rotunno, 34, a registered sex offender, walked off the campus in February 2006 and remains missing, officials said.
Rotunno was arraigned in 2002 on a charge of aggravated kidnapping of a child under 13. He was found not guilty by reason of insanity and ordered to undergo inpatient mental health treatment.
Rotunno used a “grounds pass,” a court-authorized document allowing patients to walk around the facility.
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