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Chicago police capture two more Joliet escapees

CHICAGO -- Police raided a South Side apartment Thursday and captured two convicted murderers who escaped earlier this month from the Joliet Correctional Center, authorities said.

Acting on an informant's tip, police arrested James Allen, 40, of Chicago, a three-time convicted killer serving a natural life sentence, and Daniel Johnson, 24, of Burns, Tenn., serving an 80-year sentence for murder, said spokesman Nic Howell of the state Department of Corrections. Allen and Johnson were among six inmates who escaped Feb. 11 in the largest breakout in the history of the state prison system. Two of the inmates were captured earlier and two others remain at large.

"We've been working on this case 24 hours a day ever since these guys got out," Howell said. "It's fine that they're off the street and we're after the other two now."

About 35 Chicago police officers and three fugitive-apprehension specialists from the Corrections Department took part in Thursday afternoon's raid on the two-flat apartment building. "Allen was arrested in the living room, and Johnson was walking out the back door," Howelll said.

The men were not armed and there was no resistance, the spokesman said. Allen and Johnson were being held at the Chicago Lawn police station and were to be returned to Joliet later Thursday, Howell said.

The two inmates still at large are convicted murderer Dave Rodriguez, 21, of Chicago, and burglar Ronald Roach, 20, of Wyoming, Ill. Authorities had believed Allen and Johnson might have fled Illinois. On Wednesday, the FBI announced it had entered the case at the request of local authorities to help search for the fugitives outside the state.

On Friday, a jail guard, William Smith, 46, of Joliet, was charged with aiding in the escape. Prosecutors said he gave inmates a hacksaw blade used to cut cell bars.