Convicted Hillary Clinton Hostage-Taker Returns from Leisurely Stroll from Jail

The man who took hostages at Hillary Clinton's campaign office in 2007 briefly escaped from his correctional facility Sunday evening, only to be found less than 24 hours later. So here's how that happened.

The man who took hostages at Hillary Clinton's campaign office in 2007 briefly escaped from his correctional facility Sunday evening, only to be found less than 24 hours later. Officials from the Calumet Transitional Housing Unit in Manchester, New Hampshire, noticed the 52-year-old Leeland Eisenberg was missing during a routine Sunday afternoon head count. Police picked him up around 8 a.m. Monday morning.

Eisenberg was serving time for repeated probation violations stemming from the 2007 incident when he stormed Clinton's campaign office in Rochester, New York, claiming to have a bomb. There was a five-hour standoff with police that ended unceremoniously. The bomb turned out to be road flares. He told CNN he took the hostages because he wanted to raise mental health awareness, and because he was ready to die. "I wanted to sacrifice myself for mental illness and bring about the discussion about mental illness," Eisenberg told the network in a 2007 interview. "I wanted the police to kill me." Authorities have said Eisenberg has suffered from a long history of mental health issues and substance abuse problems.

Eisenberg was sentenced to two years in prison in 2007 for the incident at Clinton's office. But he landed himself back in jail after repeatedly violating his probation after his release. His first violation was for failing to charge his ankle bracelet, and then he cut his bracelet off and fled another time after a judge gave him a final warning. He was sentenced to another three and a half to seven years in 2010 for violating his probation. He would have been up for parole again in August had he not escaped from his facility. Now, Eisenberg is facing another three and a half to seven years for escaping.