It took the authorities in Pennsylvania 13 days to trace down the convicted assassin Danelo Cavalcante after he escaped from a county jail final month. It took just some hours after his seize on Wednesday for officers to ship him to the jail that will probably be his house for the foreseeable future.
On Thursday, Mr. Cavalcante, 34, started his first full day as inmate QP8931 at S.C.I. Phoenix, a maximum-security facility in Montgomery County, Pa., that for a couple of years housed Bill Cosby.
Mr. Cavalcante arrived at S.C.I. Phoenix much more infamous than when he escaped from a jail in Chester County on Aug. 31.
He had been convicted of homicide within the killing of an ex-girlfriend, and had been sentenced to life with out parole when, 9 days after the sentencing, he managed to flee by scaling a wall within the jail’s yard space and climbing onto the roof, unnoticed by a guard in a watchtower.
For virtually two weeks, Mr. Cavalcante eluded a search that got here to incorporate round 500 federal, state and native officers. The search took a extra pressing activate Monday evening after Mr. Cavalcante stole a .22-caliber rifle from an open storage and fled. Over the course of the search, the convicted assassin had been noticed a number of instances, and greater than as soon as, officers believed they’d him hemmed in — solely to be taken abruptly when he confirmed up some place else.
The manhunt got here to a swift finish on Wednesday morning, after a crew of officers quietly surrounded Mr. Cavalcante in a wooded space of South Coventry Township, and he was subdued by a search canine.
Initially, Mr. Cavalcante was taken to a state police barracks, the place he was processed and handled for a chew by Yoda, the search canine. Within hours, although, he was positioned within the custody of the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections and brought to S.C.I. Phoenix.
The facility is simply about 30 miles from the native jail in Chester County, however it’s a totally different world. S.C.I. Phoenix, described as a “state-of-the-art facility” by the state’s Department of Corrections, is a maximum-security jail that opened 5 years in the past, in 2018.
While Mr. Cavalcante, in addition to one other inmate, have been capable of escape the Chester County jail lately, S.C.I. Phoenix, which has been deemed the state’s most trendy and costly correctional facility, is provided with high-tech security measures.
The facility’s perimeter is lined with two rows of razor-wire fence and is provided with a system that officers say can detect anybody who’s attempting to scale or lower the fence. Officials of the jail have stated that between the 2 concentric fences, a system is put in that detects weight, so an alarm would sound if an inmate have been to make it into the house between the fences.
At the Chester County jail, officers have been reviewing the breakdown in safety that led to Mr. Cavalcante’s escape, and the officer who was within the watchtower has been fired.
S.C.I. Phoenix, constructed at a value of $400 million, changed S.C.I. Graterford, a jail that was in-built 1929. The new jail, set on 164 acres of land about 30 miles west of Philadelphia, is at the moment housing slightly below 3,000 inmates — lower than its full capability. Mr. Cosby was held there for 3 years after he was convicted of sexual assault in 2018; he was launched after his conviction was overturned in 2021.
While at S.C.I. Phoenix, Mr. Cosby occupied a 7-foot-by-13-foot cell with a 10-foot ceiling. Unlike many inmates, Mr. Cosby didn’t have a cell mate
Life contained in the perimeter is mundane. For breakfast, it was reported that Mr. Cosby and the inmates at S.C.I. Phoenix had entry to fruit and cereal, and on Saturdays, pancakes. For lunch and dinner, choices diversified from cheese pizza to a hamburger or roast pork.
Typically, inmates at S.C.I. Phoenix are capable of go to the train yard twice a day, and might work at jobs within the facility, a lot of them involving upkeep duties.
The jail has a mural arts program, a gymnasium, greater than 30 school rooms, a legislation library and different facilities. Inmates are usually capable of have guests, make cellphone calls, buy TVs, radios and snacks, and obtain electronic mail.
There has been one reported escape try for the reason that facility opened; it occurred final 12 months. The inmate, who was serving a sentence for sexual assault, had gained entry to a constructing roof after which jumped onto the concrete pavement under, authorities stated. But the inmate was rapidly taken again into custody and handled for accidents sustained within the fall.
Maria Bivens, a spokeswoman for the corrections division, stated Mr. Cavalcante was going by way of classification on Thursday and was in a cell with no different inmates.
Ms. Bivens stated jail managers will evaluation his data as a part of the consumption course of after which decide what he could have entry to on the facility. Typically, as soon as inmates have accomplished classification and placement, they get the identical privileges as different inmates of their unit.
Campbell Robertson contributed reporting and Sheelagh McNeill contributed analysis.
Source: www.nytimes.com