Prison Security Being Improved, Chesco Residents Assured Monday

CHESTER COUNTY, PA —Chester County residents spoke out Monday night at the first of two town halls following the Aug. 31 prison escape of 34-year-old Danilo Cavalcante, who was on the run for 14 days before being captured.

"Our daily lives were obviously very much interrupted by this," Brooke Sarkar of Malvern, told ABC Philadelphia before a town hall meeting in Pocopson Elementary School. "Hoping to hear the plan of changes taking place locally and statewide to ensure something of this nature is not going to happen again."

A second town hall is scheduled at 7 p.m. Wednesday night at Pocopson Elementary School, 105 Pocopson Road, West Chester.

Acting Warden Howard Holland said Monday night that the prison takes full responsibility for the escape.

“We take it seriously,” the warden said. “Everybody was put in harm's way."

The warden vowed to enhance security upgrades at the prison, noting that some improvements have already started.

Prison Upgrades

Holland displayed images for residents of the area of escape by Igor Bolte in May 2023 and the area of Aug. 31 escape by Cavalcante.

He said razor wire was added to exercise yards following Bolte's escape.

Cavalcante escaped by crab walking between two walls to a roof in the exercise yard. He was captured on Sept. 13 in South Coventry Township. He was hiding under a pile of logs when a K-9 Belgian Malinois dog named Yoda bit him. The timeline for the search is available here.

Holland told Patch that metal mesh was added after the escape by Cavalcante, blocking access to the Chester County Prison roof. The officer on duty in a security observation tower on the prison grounds was fired.

Upgrades include additional security cameras. In addition, prison officials are exploring the use of K9s and ankle monitors for high-risk inmates.

Cavalcante is in the state Correctional Institute at Phoenix, Skippack Township, Montgomery County, where 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 Chester County Prison Board, which oversees the prison operations, is meeting at 2:30 p.m. Wednesday at the Commissioners’ Public Meeting Room on the 6th floor of 313 West Market St., West Chester.

The public is invited to attend the meeting. The meeting will be available virtually here. A video of the meeting will be posted on the county’s website later on Wednesday afternoon