Prison Guard Who Was On Duty When Convicted Murderer Escaped Gets Fired

The correctional officer on duty in the guard tower when a convicted murderer escaped from a Pennsylvania prison last week has been fired.

Authorities say the make broke free by “crab walking” up a wall.

A massive manhunt is underway, ABC News reported.

The Chester County District Attorney’s Office confirmed on Friday that the corrections officer, an 18-year veteran at the Chester County Prison, was terminated Thursday afternoon.

There have been multiple sightings of the fugitive Danelo Cavalcante, 34, since he escaped Aug. 31, including two on Friday, police said.

Cavalcante had been sentenced to life in prison without parole days before the fatal stabbing of his ex-girlfriend. He is also wanted in his native Brazil on homicide charges.

He escaped from the prison by scaling a wall and gaining access to the roof where he pushed through razor wire before jumping down to a less secure area, Howard Holland, the acting warden of the Chester County Prison, told reporters during a press briefing on Wednesday.

He followed the same escape method recently used by a different inmate at the Chester County Prison, Holland said. Inmate Igor Vidra Bolte broke out of the prison in Pocopson Township in May by also scaling a wall in an exercise yard to gain access to the roof, according to a criminal complaint obtained by ABC News. He was quickly captured.

Holland noted that “one key difference” between the two escapes was the actions of a tower guard whose primary responsibility was to monitor inmates in the exercise yard.

“In Bolte’s escape, the tower officer observed the subject leaving the yard area and contacted control immediately. That is why Bolte was apprehended within 5 minutes,” Holland said. “In the escape of Cavalcante, the tower officer did not observe nor report the escape. The escape was discovered as part of the inmate counts that occur when the inmates come in from the exercise yard.”

Holland said additional measures are being taken now to completely enclose the eight exercise yards, which are now open-air, and said additional security cameras will also be installed as well as additional officers on the ground to help the tower officers monitor the inmates in the exercise yards.