An inmate escaped Tuesday afternoon from a prison in Vandalia.
21 year old Marcus Battice got over the fence at Vandalia Correctional Center about 2 p.m. IDOC spokesman Tom Shaer said the way Battice got out from the rear of the facility remains under investigation.
Battice was serving a four-year sentence for unlawful possession of a stolen vehicle in Cook County. He was scheduled for release Jan. 18, 2015. Shaer said the Illinois State Police is assisting the Corrections Department.
Search dogs from the county sheriff’s department have been deployed as well as staff from other state prisons.