It's So Cold This Convict Turned Himself In

Unless you've been living under a California rock, you know all about the Polar Vortex by now. But here's what you might not have guessed: besides plunging America into a chilblain-chafing Big Chill, this weather is also proving to be the law enforcement's best natural asset when it comes to rounding up outlaws. Take, for example, this escaped convict in Kentucky who turned himself in when it proved too cold outside. Inmate Robert Vick escaped from a minimum security facility in Lexington, Kentucky on Sunday but quickly changed his mind about going on the run when he realized just how frigid it was outside.

Vick made it as far as the Sunset Motel and Restaurant before turning himself in, just 3.8 miles from Blackburn correctional facility where he's been serving a six-year sentence for burglary and criminal possession of a forged instrument. He was later treated for hypothermia by paramedics but is now, we presume, 'snugly' behind bars once again—relatively speaking, at least.

Confirming that the authorities had no hand in Vick's round-up, Lexington police spokeswoman Sherelle Roberts said: "This was definitely of his own volition. It's cold out there, too cold to run around. I can understand why the suspect would turn himself in."

The myth of the Great Escape may have a stronghold on the national psyche, but it's actually harder than ever to escape incarceration, with state breaks actually declining steadily since the nineties. But if there's ever a best time to make a run for it, the odds of making it to Mexico are certainly lower during the Polar Vortex.

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