Plans to cap Chester County prison yard after Cavalcante escape is ‘misguided,’ advocacy group says

Pennsylvania’s leading prisoner advocacy group says plans to completely wall off an outdoor area of the Chester County prison is an “expensive, misguided solution” that would harm inmates and fail to properly address other issues that led to an inmate escaping last month.

In a statement released Friday, the Pennsylvania Prison Society said Chester County residents were justified in their calls for security reforms after convicted murderer Danilo Cavalcante escaped on Aug. 31 and led law enforcement on a two-week manhunt through the heavily wooded residential area.

But the advocacy group said the proposed plan — capping the Pocopson Township prison’s exercise yards with solid walls and a fully enclosed roof — would create a welfare issue for inmates by blocking out sunlight and fresh air.

» READ MORE: Chester County prison to fully enclose exercise yards after Cavalcante’s escape

“Unfortunately, in their rush to reassure the community, county officials are pursuing expensive, misguided solutions that will degrade the physical and mental health of incarcerated people,” the advocacy group wrote.

Claire Shubik-Richards, the group’s executive director, on Tuesday said focusing on the roof was “short-sighted” and failed to address one of the root issues plaguing the prison: a shortage of corrections officers.

Chester County Commissioner Josh Maxwell said the plan was still in the design stage and county officials would meet with the prison society to discuss concerns.

He added that the Cavalcante saga — which brought an international spotlight onto the typically sleepy Philadelphia collar county — presented an opportunity to improve quality-of-life changes for both inmates and staff in addition to beefing up security.

“There’s opportunities for us to do different things with different yards at the prison,” Maxwell said Tuesday. “We want to make sure that everyone’s rights are respected, but that people in the community feel safe at the same time.”

» READ MORE: A step-by-step look at Danelo Cavalcante’s escape, search, and capture

The Chester County Prison Board last month approved up to $3.5 million in spending to fortify the prison yard where Cavalcante had escaped by propelling himself up a narrow hallway, pressing his hands and feet against the walls and crab-walking up to the roof. Another inmate used a similar method to escape the same yard in May, but was captured nearby moments later.

But Cavalcante, 34, managed to evade detection as he fled the facility and led law enforcement on a 13-day manhunt that drew international attention. He dodged hundreds of law enforcement officers for days in a densely wooded area around the prison, surviving on creek water and watermelon, until he managed to steal a van and flee 20 miles north.

The escape came two weeks after a jury convicted Cavalcante of stabbing his ex-girlfriend to death in front of her two children, and his days on the run gripped residents with fear.

Prison officials quickly fired the guard who was on watchtower duty when the escape occurred — but bigger personnel questions at the Chester County prison linger.

Staffing issues have been at the root of several recent jail outbreaks, including in Philadelphia. With prisons nationwide facing a critical shortage of correctional officers, Shubik-Richards said policy makers either need to reduce the prison population in proportion to current staff levels, or improve working conditions to boost retention.

“That means making it a meaningful job — a job with a mission, a human services-focused career, a job with competitive pay, and a job that’s appreciated,” Shubik-Richards said. “Just using overtime and overtime and overtime is not a solution.”

Maxwell said 241 out of 301 positions are filled at the Chester County prison as of this week, and the prison population is down 25% from a few years ago.

He added that the prison’s new warden is actively working on recruitment, and the county views the increased attention in the wake of the manhunt as an opportunity for workplace reforms.

“We have to treat our employees there with the respect they reserve,” Maxwell said. “They have one of the toughest jobs in the county, and they’ll be our best recruiters if we treat them better, pay them better, and respect their work.”