The incident happened last Thursday morning at the Chester County Prison in Pocopson Township. The inmate identified as Danelo Cavalcante, 34, can be seen stretching his little legs across the brick and cinderblock walls to push himself to the roof. He eventually made his way out of custody successfully.
As shocking as this is, Howard Holland, the acting warden of the prison, said during a news conference this Wednesday that this has actually happened before… with an inmate using the same technique! “This escape was similar to the methodology to the escape by Cavalcante,” Holland said. “Cavalcante escaped at the same location as Igor Bolte. But for Cavalcante, there was razor wire to contend with before reaching the roof. Once the additional razor wire had been added to the escape route following the Igor Bolt escape in May, it was determined by our security advisors that this one level of security was sufficient,” Holland added. “In fact, what was perhaps overlooked was the fact that addressing a single point of physical countermeasure should have been bolstered by additional means,” he said. “We are addressing that.”
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So when did they realize Cavalcante was gone? Well after the group went back to their cells at 9:35 a.m., the guards realized the number of prisoners was off by 1 at 9:45 a.m., Holland said. After coming to terms that an inmate was missing, a lockdown went into effect, and searches around the prison began to happen. However, there was no sight of Cavalcante. Holland noted that Cavalcante had a 10-minute head start as the community siren did not go off until minutes later.
To make matters worse, it was said that Cavalcante’s escape was not seen by a guard in a tower overlooking the group of prisoners playing basketball… or by whomever was monitoring the 160 cameras at the correctional facility. As a result of not paying close attention, the tower guard has been put on administrative leave and their actions are being investigated, Holland shared.
More On Cavalcante
According to reports, Cavalcante was convicted of first-degree murder on August 16 in the killing of his former girlfriend, 33-year-old Deborah Brandão, back in 2021. He was sentenced to life without parole for his crime. In addition to that, he is also wanted in a 2017 homicide case in Brazil, which is his native country.
While speaking to reporters, Holland also addressed Cavalcante victims:
“I just want to ensure that we know the gravity of the situation and how it’s impacted our community negatively,” Holland told reporters. “Moreover, to the victims of this individual, I want to make sure that they know we are consistently and consciously thinking of what they’re going through. They are continually in our thoughts and prayers to make sure we bring Mr. Cavalcante to justice,” he said.
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