Prison officials probe escape of accused murderer

Eight city jail officers have been assigned to other posts pending an investigation into how a man accused of murder escaped a week ago, a jail official said yesterday.

Police appeared no closer to finding Oscar Alvarado, who walked out of the Curran-Fromhold Correctional Facility in Holmesburg, authorities said.

Prison Commissioner Louis Giorla has said it was "possible" that Alvarado escaped on his own, but privately authorities said Alvarado almost certainly had help from inside the jail, outside, or both.

According to one law enforcement source, a woman picked up Alvarado outside the jail, then drove him to 30th Street Station. Alvarado told the driver he was headed out of state, the source said.

The investigation into the escape is expected to be completed next week, said Robert Eskind, public information officer for the Philadelphia prison system.

"They're pushing on this as hard as they can," he said.

Between 3 and 6 p.m. on Thanksgiving, Alvarado, 27, changed into civilian clothes and slipped away from a visiting area.

Alvarado, jailed since October 2008 on allegations that he gunned down a woman in Kensington during a robbery, somehow acquired an unauthorized pass that allowed him access to the visiting area - though no one visited him that day.

The search for Alvarado has included work from police, detectives, and U.S. marshals, who have executed search warrants at places Alvarado was known to frequent. His last known address was the 3300 block of Philip Street in North Philadelphia.

"They're exhausting the leads they have," Philadelphia Lt. Frank Vanore said. "Right now, we still have a lot of questions as to where he is."

Police urge anyone who sees Alvarado to call 911 and stay away. Alvarado is 5-foot-7 and about 160 pounds and has large tattoos on his arms and back. Though bearded in the photograph released by police, he was clean-shaven when he escaped, with close-cropped hair. He was last seen wearing dark pants and a light-colored shirt.

Since the escape, Alvarado may have grown facial hair or made other changes to his appearance, officials said.

The escape, the first in the jail's 14-year history, prompted officials to review the building's security measures as part of the investigation. Giorla has said the jail will act quickly to make changes if necessary.

Officials have not commented on how Alvarado got the pass. The trip from his cell to the lobby required him to pass through two locked doors and by at least a dozen jail employees.

Officials have also declined to elaborate on how and where Alvarado changed clothes. He would have passed several cameras on his way through the jail, but those are set up to function as surveillance to be monitored by employees, and none recorded any footage.

There are no cameras in the visiting lobbies, for privacy reasons, Eskind said. Visitors must provide identification and are searched on the way in, but can meet with inmates without any barrier.

The rooms are typically filled with 30 to 40 people, half of them inmates, officials said. When inmates return to their cell blocks, they are searched again. Visitors, on the other hand, are not searched as they leave.

Only a small percentage of the jail's inmates are prohibited from face-to-face visits: those held under the highest security and separate from the general population, Eskind said.