Inside jail where prisoner managed to make daring escape by crab-walking up wall
A murderer who 'crabbed walk ed' out of prison and left officials on a two week manhunt has prompted huge questions surrounding its security.
Danelo Cavalcante, 34, escaped while awaiting transfer to state prison on August 31 after being sentenced to life in prison for fatally stabbing his ex-girlfriend in 2021. The armed prisoner was eventually apprehended following a lengthy manhunt on Wednesday at around 8am after a plane fitted with a thermal imaging camera picked up Cavalcante’s heat signal, allowing teams on the ground to secure the area, surround him and move in with search dogs.
“They were able to move in very quietly. They had the element of surprise,” Pennsylvania State Police Lt. Col. George Bivens said at a news conference. “Cavalcante did not realise he was surrounded until that had occurred.”
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Cavalcante escaped on August 31 (Pennsylvania State Police Depart)
Cavalcante looks different after he shaved during the manhunt (AP)Cavalcante is currently being housed at SCI Phoenix, a maximum security prison in Montgomery County and his escape is under investigation by the Pennsylvania Attorney General's Office and he will likely face additional charges, officials said.
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However, his escape has prompted huge questions over Chester County Prison's security and led to the prison officer on duty at the time of his escape being fired on Thursday.
The prisoner escaped from Chester County Prison (Getty Images)He had spent 18 years as a corrections officer, county spokesperson Michelle Bjork said. He was on duty in the watchtower when Cavalcante scaled a wall by crab-walking up from the recreation yard, climbed over razor wire, ran across a roof and jumped to the ground. Cavalcante’s escape went undetected for more than an hour until guards took a headcount.
Chester County Prison has sacked the officer on duty (tutorperini.com)The guard, who was put on administrative leave after the escape, also had his personal mobile phone on him at the time, a violation of jail protocol, Bjork said. Howard Holland, the acting warden of the Chester County Prison, said the prison had brought in a consultant after the first escape in May and added razor wire to that area.
Security cameras showed him escaping the Pennsylvania prison (POLICE HANDOUT/UNPIXS)“What was perhaps overlooked was the fact that addressing the single point of physical countermeasures should have been bolstered by additional means. We are addressing that,” Holland said. He said the prison was fully staffed when Cavalcante broke out. After hearing the prisoner was caught, Brandão's sister said that the arrest "brings a lot of relief".
"We were afraid that he would seek revenge against my family," Silvia Brandão told the outlet. "We were very afraid because you know what he is capable of." Cavalcante is also accused of murdering a young friend over an unpaid debt in the central Brazilian state of Tocantins in 2017.
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