In April 2011, news broke that two men had escaped the Monroe County Jail. A week-long manhunt ensued, eventually leading to the capture of Eddie Palmer and Joseph Lee Mitchell.
But Palmer and Mitchell weren't the first to escape the jail. That distinction goes to Timothy Fair, a Rochester man who escaped from the jail on Dec. 9, 1996. After three days of freedom, Fair was caught after he ran a stop sign in a stolen minivan.
An excerpt from a Democrat & Chronicle story published Dec. 13, 1996:
Fair escaped early Monday from a makeshift holding site at the jail that was converted from office space to alleviate overcrowding. Fair, also known as "Tiny Tim," apparently climbed through a heating duct in a bathroom to escape.
Fair would not say where he had been hiding. But authorities are charging him with committing two burglaries at occupied Chili homes just hours before he was caught.
He was the first inmate to escape from a holding cell in 24 years, the year the jail was opened. However, several other inmates have escaped during jail transfers over the years. Fair remained free the longest.
Fair would later plead guilty for the burglaries and the escape. He would be given a sentence of 15 years in prison in exchange for revealing his escape route: A ventilation duct above a suspended ceiling that led to a duct into the third floor of the old City Public Safety Building.
Finally, his escape came to an amusing completion when he climbed down from that duct into the unoccupied office of Crimestoppers.