Woman admits aiding Elgin escape

A Chicago woman pleaded guilty Thursday to helping a convicted killer escape from the Elgin Mental Health Center and was sentenced to 30 months of probation.

Lisa Mack, 32, also must complete 100 hours of community service and spend 60 days in the county jail, with credit for 30 days already served, according to a plea agreement.

Mack faced between three and seven years in prison for the offense of aiding escape, a class two felony. She was arrested last September after 31-year-old Tolbert Walls of Chicago escaped the state hospital, where he was placed upon being found unfit for trial in a Cook County armed robbery case.

Authorities say Mack posed as Walls' sister-in-law and used phony identification to obtain a visitor's pass for him. The two walked out of the hospital together, prosecutors said.

Walls, who served 15 years in prison for the 1991 murder of a street gang member, was arrested in October following a three-hour standoff with police on Chicago's South Side.