New Razor Wire Fence Up At Chesco Prison After Convicted Killer Escape

CHESTER COUNTY, PA —New razor wire fences have been installed to encompass the entire perimeter of Chester County Prison to prevent escapes in the wake of the Aug. 31 escape of a convicted murderer.

Acting Warden Howard Holland informed the county prison board this week on the status of security upgrades at the jail in Pocopson Township, which has 679 inmates.

The emergency upgrades were approved following the escape of convicted killer Danilo Cavalcante, who was captured two weeks later on Sept. 13 in South Coventry Township, northern Chester County. He escaped by crab-walking across two walls to a prison roof and was not spotted by a correctional officer in a watch tower outside the jail.

“The razor wire that was intended to be put in is completed,” Holland said. “The new wire is like a cable or rope type wire. The other wire that was there was like a ribbon, and over time the ribbon was compressed and fallen in some areas. The new wire is a huge improvement. The razor wire will entangle you.”

Holland said the roof areas will be closed off with metal fabrications.

The acting warden said many vendors have been out to the prison to discuss sensor wires and cameras. The plan is to purchase 50 to 75 new cameras. He said there is also a new security device using radar to track anyone who is leaving the jail.

The acting warden said that he attended the recent Pocopson Township supervisors' meeting and plans to continue attending meetings.

Stephanie Hoopman, a Pocopson Township resident, thanked Holland for keeping his word to go to the supervisors' meetings.

The prison board previously awarded a $94,000 contract to design security upgrades for exercise yards to TransSystems, LLC, Ebensburg, Cambria County.

Cavalcante is in the state Correctional Institute at Greene, Franklin Township, Greene County, which is in western Pennsylvania, south of Pittsburgh near the border of West Virginia.

He is serving a life sentence for the April 2021 fatal stabbing of his ex-girlfriend, Deborah Brandao, 33, in front of her young children in Schuylkill Township.

The prison board consists of the county commissioners, district attorney, sheriff, controller, and president judge.