The Pennsylvania Department of Corrections regularly inspects county prisons, but state law does not require their two inspectors to check facilities for escape risk.
The escape of inmate Danelo Cavalcante from a prison in West Chester, Pennsylvania, U.S. is seen in a screen grab from a video released Sept. 6, 2023.two weeks after he escaped from a prison in Pennsylvania has brought relief to the local community, but questions remain about security measures at county prisons in the state.
"These inspections are based on minimum regulatory requirements for operation and are not a security or vulnerability analysis," Pennsylvania Department of Corrections spokesperson Maria Bivens told ABC News. Although the requirements say that county prisons must have a plan for what to do in response to an escape, they do not have any provision for ensuring that inspectors check facilities during their visits to detect areas that could be vulnerable for escapes so that potential breakouts could be prevented.Pennsylvania's county prison requirements appear to be similar to those in several other states, though each state has its own policies.
"Information available regarding the circumstances of this escape does not indicate that it was related to noncompliance with the regulations," Bivens said. Jeff Mellow, a professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in Manhattan, told ABC News that escapes as a whole are extremely rare, but that research indicates that county jails and prisons experience more breakouts than larger long-term lockups like state and federal prisons.
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