Two men, including one charged with 4 murders, escaped from a Philly jail, police say

Two men escaped from the Philadelphia Industrial Correctional Center on Sunday at 8:30 p.m., but their absence was not noticed until Monday afternoon, Prisons Commissioner Blanche Carney said at a news conference Monday evening.

One, Ameen Hurst, 18, was charged with four homicides, including the killing of Rodney Hargrove, who had just been released from a Philadelphia jail when he was gunned down on prison grounds in 2021.

The other, 24-year-old Nasir Grant, faces drug and gun charges.

» READ MORE: The parents of the man gunned down after leaving a Philly jail have sued the city and prison administrators

“The goal right now is to make sure these two individuals are apprehended and brought back into custody,” Carney said, adding that both U.S. Marshals and the Philadelphia Police have joined that effort.

Deputy Commissioner Frank Vanore of the Philadelphia Police Department described Hurst as “a very dangerous individual,” and said, “We are looking for the public’s help to get him back.”

Anyone with information is asked to call 911 or Northeast Detectives at 215-686-3153.

The escape occurred less than a week after the correctional officers’ union, Local 159 of AFSCME District Council 33, entered a vote of no confidence in Carney’s leadership. They said she had failed to adequately respond to a staffing crisis that has risen to more than 800 vacancies, or 40% short of a full complement.

The prisons have been subject to a monitor appointed by a federal judge since last year, in response to a class-action lawsuit alleging inhumane and unconstitutional prison conditions.

» READ MORE: 29 people died in Philly jails in the pandemic. City officials said they did 'a good job.'

Two former high-ranking Philadelphia Department of Prisons officials said the escape appeared to reflect multiple system failures — including at least three missed body counts, given that the prisons did not go on lockdown until Monday afternoon. One said the prison, known to staff and incarcerated people as PICC, had an alarm system along its fence that should have been maintained.

“You went through an 11 o clock count. You went through a 3 a.m. count. You went through a 7 a.m. count and maybe an 11 a.m. count? They missed a bunch of counts,” said Ed Miranda, a former deputy warden for the department. “How many counts were done prior to you finding out these guys got out? Was the post manned?”

Carney said she has asked the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections to assess all of the Philadelphia jails for security weaknesses. She said the two men were housed on the same unit at PICC, but were not cellmates.

It was not clear how officers who conducted counts failed to notice the two men’s absence, or how it was finally discovered. Although some prison staff speculated that a stabbing that occurred in PICC on Sunday evening may have been intended as a diversion, Carney said it was not related to the escape.

Hurst and Grant were able to escape through a fence in a prison yard, Carney said. She said the area was staffed, and said it was not unusual for them to have had access to the yard in the evening hours.

Mayor Jim Kenney, speaking at a Monday evening news conference, said his first goal was to bring the men into custody. After that, he said, he wants answers.

“I’m angry about it,” he said. “If everybody followed through with what they were supposed to do, we wouldn’t have this. So we’re gonna find out what happened.”

Staff writer Chris Palmer contributed to this article.