FAYETTE COUNTY — A 24-year old Chicago man charged with a 2015 escape from the Vandalia Correctional Center has been found not guilty by reason of insanity.

Marcus Battice was charged in January 2015 with escape from a penal institution after he reportedly walked away from the prison in Vandalia in September 2014.

Battice, who only had a few months left to serve on his prison sentence, was found walking along an Interstate 70 frontage road.

An earlier fitness hearing by a different doctor found Battice fit to stand trial. However, the judge refused to hear a negotiated plea at that time as Battice would not acknowledge his guilt and made a rambling statement.

Questions as to Battice’s mental fitness were again raised and another mental fitness evaluation was ordered

Battice will be remanded into the custody of the Department of Human Services to begin treatment. He could be ordered to serve between 3 and 14 years in DHS custody.

If at the end of 14 years he is still not found to be sane, he could be involuntarily committed for an indefinite period.