Ty Conn
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Tyrone Williams "Ty" Conn (January 18, 1967 – May 20, 1999), born Ernest Bruce Hayes, was a
Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...
bank robber Bank robbery is the criminal act of stealing from a bank, specifically while bank employees and customers are subjected to force, violence, or a threat of violence. This refers to robbery of a bank Branch (banking), branch or Bank teller, tell ...
. He was the only person in the last half-century to escape over the wall from the
Kingston Penitentiary Kingston Penitentiary (known locally as KP and Kingston Pen) is a former maximum security prison located in Kingston, Ontario, Canada, between King Street West and Lake Ontario. History Constructed from 1833 to 1834, and opened on June 1, 1 ...
, one of Canada's most secure prisons.


History

Tyrone Conn was born in 1967, as Ernest Bruce Hayes, to an Ontario 15-year-old mother and a father from
Newfoundland and Labrador Newfoundland and Labrador (; french: Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador; frequently abbreviated as NL) is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region ...
. Soon after his birth, his mother abandoned him to the care of his father, who in turn abandoned him to the care of his maternal grandparents. They placed him for adoption at the age of three. He was adopted by a
Belleville, Ontario Belleville is a city in Ontario, Canada situated on the eastern end of Lake Ontario, located at the mouth of the Moira River and on the Bay of Quinte. Belleville is between Ottawa and Toronto, along the Quebec City-Windsor Corridor. Its population ...
psychiatrist, Dr. E. Bert Conn, and his wife. Dr. Conn's wife was described as mentally unstable. Tyrone Conn remained with Dr. Conn and his wife for eight years before being returned to the care of the local Children's Aid Society. He then spent the balance of his adolescent and teenage years in foster homes, group homes, and youth detention facilities, starting at the Brookside Training School, at the age of fourteen. During his time with his adoptive parents, Conn had developed a habit of compulsive stealing, starting with food and escalating, by his teens, to cars. From the age of thirteen to his death, nineteen years later, Conn was only "legally at large" for a total of sixty-nine days. Conn had also been "illegally at large" by escaping from a number of lower-security institutions. In 1998, Conn was transferred to Kingston Penitentiary for acting as an
informant An informant (also called an informer or, as a slang term, a “snitch”) is a person who provides privileged information about a person or organization to an agency. The term is usually used within the law-enforcement world, where informan ...
at the
Millhaven Institution Millhaven Institution (french: Établissement de Millhaven) is a maximum security prison located in Bath, Ontario. Approximately 500 inmates are incarcerated at Millhaven. Opened in 1971, Millhaven was originally built to replace Ontario's other ...
. He advised security staff at Millhaven that fellow inmates were planning an escape and was therefore placed in protective custody. Conn's escape on May 6, 1999, from inside the compound was the 26th in the history of facility. More than 50 escapees were involved in those 26 incidents. Conn employed a ladder and homemade grappling hook to scale the wall and used
cayenne pepper The cayenne pepper is a type of ''Capsicum annuum''. It is usually a moderately hot chili pepper used to flavor dishes. Cayenne peppers are a group of tapering, 10 to 25 cm long, generally skinny, mostly red-colored peppers, often with ...
to prevent dogs from following his scent.


Death and aftermath

Conn was found in a
Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...
apartment building two weeks after his escape. Surrounded by police, he committed
suicide Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Mental disorders (including depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, personality disorders, anxiety disorders), physical disorders (such as chronic fatigue syndrome), and s ...
, rather than be captured. Other theories assert that Conn accidentally discharged the stolen shotgun in his possession during the standoff, while he was speaking on the telephone to Theresa Burke, a CBC producer. Burke and journalist
Linden MacIntyre Linden Joseph MacIntyre (born May 29, 1943) is a Canadian journalist, broadcaster and novelist. He has won ten Gemini Awards, an International Emmy and numerous other awards for writing and journalistic excellence, including the 2009 Scotiabank ...
, both associated with the television program '' The Fifth Estate'', later published ''Who Killed Ty Conn'' (
Viking Press Viking Press (formally Viking Penguin, also listed as Viking Books) is an American publishing company owned by Penguin Random House. It was founded in New York City on March 1, 1925, by Harold K. Guinzburg and George S. Oppenheim and then acquire ...
Canada, 2000;Publication details of ''Who Killed Ty Conn''
Amazon.ca Amazon.com, Inc. ( ) is an American multinational technology company focusing on e-commerce, cloud computing, online advertising, digital streaming, and artificial intelligence. It has been referred to as "one of the most influential economi ...
. Retrieved 2014-10-18.
reissued 2011, Creative Book Publishing, St. John's Tara Bradbury
Who killed Ty Conn?
''
The Telegram ''The Telegram'' is a daily newspaper published weekdays and Saturdays (as ''The Weekend Telegram'') in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. History ''The Evening Telegram'' was first published on April 3, 1879 by William James Herde ...
'', July 9, 2011. Retrieved 2014-10-18.
). MacIntyre had met and befriended Conn in 1994, during the course of researching an investigative story on the effects of child abuse. At the time, Conn was serving a 47-year sentence, principally for bank robbery. The length of the compound sentence was despite the lack of violence in his criminal record.
Clayton Ruby Clayton Charles Ruby (6 February 1942 – 2 August 2022) was a Canadian lawyer and activist, specializing in constitutional and criminal law and civil rights. Early life and education Ruby was born in Toronto, Ontario, to Marie (Bochner) and ...

Born to run...and die (Review of ''Who Killed Ty Conn'')
''
The Globe and Mail ''The Globe and Mail'' is a Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of approximately 2 million in 2015, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on weekdays and Saturdays, although it ...
'', November 11, 2000. Retrieved 2014-10-26.
MacIntyre arranged for Conn's funeral and also gave a eulogy at the service. Kevin Hann, Escaped con 'paid his price'. ''
Ottawa Sun The ''Ottawa Sun'' is a daily newspaper in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It is published by Sun Media. It began publication in 1983 as the ''Ottawa Sunday Herald'', until it was acquired by (then) Toronto Sun Publishing Corporation in 1988. In Apri ...
'', May 29, 1999: 7.
::He often told me how badly he felt about the people he frightened. :::Journalist Linden MacIntyre at Ty Conn's funeral, 1999.


References


External links


Life overview of Ty Conn
{{DEFAULTSORT:Conn, Ty 1967 births 1999 deaths 1999 suicides Canadian bank robbers Canadian escapees Escapees from Canadian detention Fugitives Fugitives wanted by Canada Place of birth missing Suicides by firearm in Ontario