Story Archive

Stop Me — I Can’t Help Myself

Jose Banks, 40, was convicted of bank robbery, and was being held in a high-rise federal jail facility in Chicago, Ill. But Banks and his cellmate escaped, rappelling 17 floors to the street on a rope made of bed sheets and dental floss. Banks was captured within days, but he sued, saying he was terrified of falling during his escape. The suit charged guards “should have noticed” he and his cellmate were making a hole in the wall, and that because of his successful escape he suffered “damage to his reputation” and “humiliation and embarrassment” which caused “injury” to his “spiritual constitution” which only $10 million would heal. The 7th U.S. Court of Appeals agreed Banks “gets credit for chutzpah,” but threw the suit out ruling “No one has a personal right to be better guarded or more securely restrained, so as to be unable to commit a crime.” (RC/AP) ...Which is something not only prisoners need to understand.