JAMESON, District Judge.
Lawrence Daniel Caldwell has appealed his conviction of unlawful attempt to escape from the United States Penitentiary at Marion, Illinois, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 751(a).1 We affirm.
Procedural Background
Caldwell was indicted on March 30, 1977. Larry O. Baker was appointed to represent him. At trial Caldwell was permitted to act as co-counsel. He made his own opening statement, cross-examined Government witnesses, examined his own witness on direct examination, and made his own closing argument.
On appeal Baker filed a brief on Caldwell’s behalf on October 13, 1977, and the Government filed its answer brief on November 11, 1977. In a letter dated December 15, 1977, Caldwell informed the court that he did not consider the brief filed by Baker a valid document because he had never authorized its filing.
Baker had withdrawn as counsel for Caldwell on October 13, 1977, the day the brief was filed. Caldwell later obtained other counsel for this appeal. They filed a supplemental brief on November 13, 1978. The Government filed its supplemental brief on January 2,1979, and appellant filed a reply brief on February 1, 1979.
Oral argument was presented on April 9, 1979. On March 19, 1979 the Supreme Court had granted certiorari in United States v. Bailey, 585 F.2d 1087 (D.C.Cir. 1978), one of the cases upon which appellant relied. An order was entered on May 31, 1979, holding this appeal under advisement until decision by the Supreme Court in United States v. Bailey. Bailey was decided by the Supreme Court on January 21, 1980, 444 U.S. 394, 100 S.Ct. 624, 62 L.Ed.2d 575. Both parties filed supplemental briefs following the decision in Bailey.
Factual Background
At the time of the alleged offense, January 1, 1977, Caldwell had been incarcerated at the Marion Penitentiary for approximately four years. He had previously been confined at the United States Penitentiary in Leavenworth, Kansas, and the District of Columbia jail, following his conviction in the District of Columbia of felony murder.
In February, 1976, Caldwell was an eyewitness to a murder within the prison, where he saw an inmate stab another inmate. He testified that he was contacted by friends of both the assailant and the victim and threatened with death by each group if he failed to cooperate.
On January 1, 1977, eleven months after he had witnessed the murder, Caldwell attempted to escape. He obtained a hacksaw [146]*146and sawed through a metal window bar in the kitchen where he had worked for over a year. After going out the window he climbed up to the roof and across to the loading dock. A guard spotted movement over the kitchen and dining room area and fired a warning shot and then fired two shots at the suspect. When Caldwell was apprehended he had a buckshot wound and had with him a deck of Tarot cards, radio, food, maps, and a small amount of change.
Caldwell testified that believing he was threatened with death, he felt he had these options: (1) to arm and defend himself, but this would be futile; (2) report the incident, but if he did so, he would be stigmatized as an informer and to be protected would be placed in a segregation unit, which would mean solitary confinement; and (3) escape from the penitentiary and remain free.
Contentions on Appeal
Appellant contends that (1) the district court erred in failing to instruct the jury on the defense of duress; (2) the court erred in admitting into evidence and submitting to the jury an exhibit which referred to the defendant’s convictions with excerpts underlined in red ink; and (3) appellant was denied his constitutional right to effective assistance of counsel.2
Instructions on Defense of Duress
The court instructed the jury that the crime charged required proof of specific intent and that to “establish specific intent, the prosecution must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant knowingly did an act which the law forbids, purposely intending to violate the law”. The terms “knowingly”, “willfully”, and “unlawfully” were properly defined. The court did not, however, give an instruction on the defense of duress; nor was any duress instruction requested.3 Appellant argued that the failure to give an instruction on the duress defense was reversible error under the “controlling cases” of United States v. Nix, 501 F.2d 516 (7 Cir. 1974) and United States v. Bailey, 585 F.2d 1087 (D.C.Cir. 1978).
In Nix, the defendant had been convicted of an attempt to escape from the United States Penitentiary at Marion. There was substantial evidence that he was intoxicated at the time of the alleged escape. In reversing the conviction, with one judge dissenting, this court held that escape is a “voluntary departure from custody with an intent to avoid confinement” and that the defendant was “entitled to an instruction that includes this mental component as an element of the crime”. The court continued: “If the defendant offers evidence that he was intoxicated at the time of the offense, the jury must be instructed to consider whether he was so intoxicated he could not form an intent to escape.” 501 F.2d at 520.4
Appellant argued in his first supplemental brief that the rule “established in Nix has been also applied to cases involving defenses of duress”, citing United States v. Bailey, supra. In Bailey the defendants were convicted of escape from the District of Columbia jail. They had been recaptured after remaining at large for periods ranging from one month to three and one-half months. At the trial the defendants had adduced evidence that there were fre[147]*147quent fires in the jail, that they had been threatened with physical violence by guards, and that some of them had been beaten by guards and had received inadequate medical treatment. The district court instructed the jury that the conditions at the jail were not a defense and rejected the defendants’ proffered instruction on duress as a defense, holding that the duress defense was unavailable because they had not turned themselves in after they had escaped the allegedly coercive conditions.
The court of appeals, with one judge dissenting, reversed, holding that the district court should have allowed the jury to consider the coercive conditions at the jail in determining whether the defendants had formulated the requisite intent to sustain a conviction under § 751(a), which required the prosecution to prove that the defendants left federal custody “voluntarily” and with an “intent to avoid confinement”.4
5 The court held further that an escapee was not acting with the requisite intent if he escaped solely in order to avoid “noncon-finement conditions”, as opposed to “normal aspects of ‘confinement’.” 585 F.2d at 1093, n.
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JAMESON, District Judge.
Lawrence Daniel Caldwell has appealed his conviction of unlawful attempt to escape from the United States Penitentiary at Marion, Illinois, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 751(a).1 We affirm.
Procedural Background
Caldwell was indicted on March 30, 1977. Larry O. Baker was appointed to represent him. At trial Caldwell was permitted to act as co-counsel. He made his own opening statement, cross-examined Government witnesses, examined his own witness on direct examination, and made his own closing argument.
On appeal Baker filed a brief on Caldwell’s behalf on October 13, 1977, and the Government filed its answer brief on November 11, 1977. In a letter dated December 15, 1977, Caldwell informed the court that he did not consider the brief filed by Baker a valid document because he had never authorized its filing.
Baker had withdrawn as counsel for Caldwell on October 13, 1977, the day the brief was filed. Caldwell later obtained other counsel for this appeal. They filed a supplemental brief on November 13, 1978. The Government filed its supplemental brief on January 2,1979, and appellant filed a reply brief on February 1, 1979.
Oral argument was presented on April 9, 1979. On March 19, 1979 the Supreme Court had granted certiorari in United States v. Bailey, 585 F.2d 1087 (D.C.Cir. 1978), one of the cases upon which appellant relied. An order was entered on May 31, 1979, holding this appeal under advisement until decision by the Supreme Court in United States v. Bailey. Bailey was decided by the Supreme Court on January 21, 1980, 444 U.S. 394, 100 S.Ct. 624, 62 L.Ed.2d 575. Both parties filed supplemental briefs following the decision in Bailey.
Factual Background
At the time of the alleged offense, January 1, 1977, Caldwell had been incarcerated at the Marion Penitentiary for approximately four years. He had previously been confined at the United States Penitentiary in Leavenworth, Kansas, and the District of Columbia jail, following his conviction in the District of Columbia of felony murder.
In February, 1976, Caldwell was an eyewitness to a murder within the prison, where he saw an inmate stab another inmate. He testified that he was contacted by friends of both the assailant and the victim and threatened with death by each group if he failed to cooperate.
On January 1, 1977, eleven months after he had witnessed the murder, Caldwell attempted to escape. He obtained a hacksaw [146]*146and sawed through a metal window bar in the kitchen where he had worked for over a year. After going out the window he climbed up to the roof and across to the loading dock. A guard spotted movement over the kitchen and dining room area and fired a warning shot and then fired two shots at the suspect. When Caldwell was apprehended he had a buckshot wound and had with him a deck of Tarot cards, radio, food, maps, and a small amount of change.
Caldwell testified that believing he was threatened with death, he felt he had these options: (1) to arm and defend himself, but this would be futile; (2) report the incident, but if he did so, he would be stigmatized as an informer and to be protected would be placed in a segregation unit, which would mean solitary confinement; and (3) escape from the penitentiary and remain free.
Contentions on Appeal
Appellant contends that (1) the district court erred in failing to instruct the jury on the defense of duress; (2) the court erred in admitting into evidence and submitting to the jury an exhibit which referred to the defendant’s convictions with excerpts underlined in red ink; and (3) appellant was denied his constitutional right to effective assistance of counsel.2
Instructions on Defense of Duress
The court instructed the jury that the crime charged required proof of specific intent and that to “establish specific intent, the prosecution must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant knowingly did an act which the law forbids, purposely intending to violate the law”. The terms “knowingly”, “willfully”, and “unlawfully” were properly defined. The court did not, however, give an instruction on the defense of duress; nor was any duress instruction requested.3 Appellant argued that the failure to give an instruction on the duress defense was reversible error under the “controlling cases” of United States v. Nix, 501 F.2d 516 (7 Cir. 1974) and United States v. Bailey, 585 F.2d 1087 (D.C.Cir. 1978).
In Nix, the defendant had been convicted of an attempt to escape from the United States Penitentiary at Marion. There was substantial evidence that he was intoxicated at the time of the alleged escape. In reversing the conviction, with one judge dissenting, this court held that escape is a “voluntary departure from custody with an intent to avoid confinement” and that the defendant was “entitled to an instruction that includes this mental component as an element of the crime”. The court continued: “If the defendant offers evidence that he was intoxicated at the time of the offense, the jury must be instructed to consider whether he was so intoxicated he could not form an intent to escape.” 501 F.2d at 520.4
Appellant argued in his first supplemental brief that the rule “established in Nix has been also applied to cases involving defenses of duress”, citing United States v. Bailey, supra. In Bailey the defendants were convicted of escape from the District of Columbia jail. They had been recaptured after remaining at large for periods ranging from one month to three and one-half months. At the trial the defendants had adduced evidence that there were fre[147]*147quent fires in the jail, that they had been threatened with physical violence by guards, and that some of them had been beaten by guards and had received inadequate medical treatment. The district court instructed the jury that the conditions at the jail were not a defense and rejected the defendants’ proffered instruction on duress as a defense, holding that the duress defense was unavailable because they had not turned themselves in after they had escaped the allegedly coercive conditions.
The court of appeals, with one judge dissenting, reversed, holding that the district court should have allowed the jury to consider the coercive conditions at the jail in determining whether the defendants had formulated the requisite intent to sustain a conviction under § 751(a), which required the prosecution to prove that the defendants left federal custody “voluntarily” and with an “intent to avoid confinement”.4
5 The court held further that an escapee was not acting with the requisite intent if he escaped solely in order to avoid “noncon-finement conditions”, as opposed to “normal aspects of ‘confinement’.” 585 F.2d at 1093, n. 17.
In reversing, the Supreme Court rejected the court of appeals’ “narrow definition of confinement” and held that “the prosecution fulfills its burden under § 751(a) if it demonstrates that an escapee knew his actions would result in his leaving physical confinement without permission.” 100 S.Ct. at 633. The Court concluded that it need not speculate “on the precise contours of whatever defenses of duress or necessity are available against charges brought under § 751(a).” The Court continued in part:
Under any definition of these defenses one principle remains constant: if there was a reasonable, legal alternative to violating the law, “a chance both to refuse to do the criminal act and also to avoid the threatened harm,” the defenses will fail. LaFave & Scott, supra, [W. LaFave & A. Scott, Handbook on Criminal Law], at 379. Clearly, in the context of prison escape, the escapee is not entitled to claim a defense of duress or necessity unless and until he demonstrates that, given the imminence of the threat, violation of § 751(a) was his only reasonable alternative. [Citing United States v. Boomer, 571 F.2d 543, 545 (10 Cir.), cert. denied, 436 U.S. 911 [98 S.Ct. 2250, 56 L.Ed.2d 411] (1978)].6
100 S.Ct. at 634-35.
We need not decide whether such evidence as that submitted by respondents was sufficient to raise a jury question as to their initial departures. This is because we decline to hold that respondents’ failure to return is “just one factor” for the jury to weigh in deciding whether the initial escape could be affirmatively justified. On the contrary, several considera[148]*148tions lead us to conclude that, in order to be entitled to an instruction on duress or necessity as a defense to the crime charged, an escapee must first offer evidence justifying his continued absence from custody as well as his initial departure and that an indispensable element of such an offer is testimony of a bona fide effort to surrender or return to custody as soon as the claimed duress or necessity had lost its coercive force.
100 S.Ct. at 635-36.
While Caldwell was captured during his attempted escape, it is clear that he had no intention of turning himself in if the escape had succeeded. He testified:
I didn’t intend to be frivolous about it. I intended to escape. I intended to remain free. (Tr. 92).
It was eleven months after he witnessed the murder before he attempted to escape. It was apparent from the evidence he had planned the escape for some time. He admitted that he had the opportunity to notify the prison authorities of the threats against his life, but he did not want to face the possibility of solitary confinement. He admitted that he was not in immediate danger of death or severe injury. There is no evidence of any plan or intent to “surrender or return to custody”. On the contrary, Caldwell expressly stated that he did not intend to return after he escaped. A specific intent instruction was given. Under the holding of the Supreme Court in Bailey, no duress instruction was required.
Admission of Government Exhibit 1
Appellant contends that it was reversible error to admit into evidence Government Exhibit 1, which contains the following, underscored in red ink:
FIRST DEGREE MURDER (IN VIOLATION OF T. 22 DCC, Section 2401) ******
LIFE IMPRISONMENT ON COUNT 6; ******
. All other counts to run concurrently with sentence imposed in Count 1.
The Government offered the exhibit for the purpose of proving one of the elements of the offense — that appellant was in the custody of the Attorney General. No objection was interposed to the admission of the exhibit,7 although appellant did object to giving the exhibit to the jury, claiming that since it referred to first degree murder rather than felony murder and was underscored in red ink, it could not help but prejudice the jury against him.8
Appellant relies on United States v. Spletzer, 535 F.2d 950 (5 Cir. 1976), where the court held the admission of a certified copy of a prior judgment of bank robbery during an escape prosecution was reversible error. In Spletzer, however, the defendant had objected to the exhibit and had also stipulated to the conviction and confinement elements of the offense. In Bailey, supra, appellants argued, as here, that evidence of the prior conviction was improperly admitted. In distinguishing Spletzer, the court of appeals said:
Since the statute requires that the escapee must have been in custody by virtue of a conviction, evidence of any conviction for which a defendant is in custody when he escapes is directly relevant as long as this element is disputed. In the case on which appellant Bailey relies, United States v. Spletzer, supra note 17, the defendant had stipulated to the conviction and confinement elements of the offense. [149]*149This course is also open to appellant Bailey on remand.
585 F.2d at 1105, n. 68.
Particularly in view of the fact that both Caldwell and his counsel had expressly stated that they had no objection to the exhibit and the overwhelming evidence of guilt, we conclude that the admission of the exhibit did not constitute reversible error.
Effective Assistance of Counsel
Finally, appellant argues that he was denied effective assistance of counsel because of counsel’s failure to request a jury instruction on the defense of duress and his failure to object to Exhibit 1.
We have concluded that appellant was not entitled to a duress instruction. While counsel should probably have objected to Exhibit 1 in the form in which it was presented, appellant as pro se counsel personally stated that he had no objection to its admission, and we have concluded that its admission did not constitute reversible error.
In United States ex rel. Williams v. Twomey, 510 F.2d 634, 641 (7 Cir.), cert. denied, 423 U.S. 876, 96 S.Ct. 148, 46 L.Ed.2d 109 (1975), this court held that “the Constitution guarantees a criminal defendant legal assistance which meets a minimum standard of professional representation.” From our examination of the record we are satisfied that the services of appellant’s court appointed counsel met this standard.
During oral argument the court received a letter from appellant stating that he had received a copy of an order allowing Joanne M. Frasca to argue the appeal and that it was his wish that Thomas H. Morsch, who was on the supplemental brief, present the oral argument. The argument was in fact made by Miss Frasca, who very ably presented appellant’s case. Clearly appellant was not prejudiced in any way by having his case argued by Miss Frasca.
AFFIRMED.