PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Northeast Philadelphia neighbors and business owners are shaking their heads in disbelief as the search continues for two men who escaped from Philadelphia Industrial Correctional Center on Sunday night.
The community is asking what exactly happened when 18-year-old Ameen Hurst and 24-year-old Nasir Grant escaped through a hole in a fence surrounding a recreation yard.
“The Holmesburg alarm didn’t sound, so people in the area didn’t know that an escape happened. That’s when it comes to a lack of leadership and accountability,” said David Robinson, president of the union representing Philadelphia correctional officers.
“I haven’t heard anything except for helicopters,” said Nadiyah Bennett on Tuesday morning.
Bennett lives nearby. She said she’s scared, and she believes the public needs more information about exactly what happened Sunday night.
“I don’t know how long ago it happened. I just know that it happened. Again, I’ve seen nothing but them transporting more prisoners, but they haven’t found the ones they lost,” she said.
Questions, and more questions
Philadelphia Prisons Department Commissioner Blanche Carney said during a news conference Monday night that headcounts conducted at 11 p.m. on Sunday, 3 a.m. on Monday, and 7 a.m. on Monday reportedly showed that all prisoners were accounted for, and prison staff did not become aware of the escaped inmates until about 3 p.m. Monday.
Carney said Tuesday that they’re piecing together what happened, and the prison is on lockdown, with inmates securely in their cells.
But Sue, who works at Sweet Lucy’s Smokehouse on State Road, is reluctant to believe it.
“It was scary when we heard about the escape, because we’re so close to the area, and one of them could have been our customers or hurt one of our customers,” Sue said.
There are many questions. Top of the list: How did this happen?
“Allow us to do this thorough investigation to see what happened, what didn’t happen, where were folks — and we’re going to fully cooperate and provide that information as soon as we can," said Carney, walking the perimeter of the prison Tuesday morning.
“We have protocols in place. And the protocols have to be followed. And so that’s part of our investigation, to see what happened, what was followed, what wasn’t followed.”
More questions: Where did Hurst and Grant get a tool to allegedly cut a hole through a metal fence? How did prison staff consider the pair to be accounted for, even though they weren’t there, for more than 18 hours? Why was there such a delay in reporting it?
“One thing is for sure: You cannot cut corners and you cannot cut posts,” said Robinson.
Staffing and safety issues
Robinson says, across three working Philly prisons, they are understaffed by 800-900 correctional officers. That's about 40% below the city-approved deployment plan to safely cover the jails that house about 4,300 men and women.
He says there were no guards posted where the two made their escape.
“You have two posts that maintain the outer perimeters of those gates,” he said.
“At the time that those incarcerated individuals escaped, there should have been armed officers on the outer perimeter. There were no armed officers on the outer perimeter, and there hasn’t been for months.”
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When the prison is fully staffed, two corrections officers would be assigned to each housing unit. But with recent staffing shortages, the prison has regularly only had one officer assigned to housing units. When other officers don't report to work, or the prison reaches critically low staffing levels, one officer might be assigned to monitor multiple units, Robinson said. That's what happened the night the men escaped, he said.
“I’ve been talking about the staffing and safety issues for years and seemingly being ignored. I've been saying how something is going to happen, and now that something has happened, so are you listening now?” Robinson said. “Of course I'm not saying that the commissioner took a key and let them out, but vital posts were cut that could have prevented this.”
When pressed, Carney denied Robinson’s assertion.
“When you say it was a complete section — that is not true, but for this event, we are looking at what the timeline and video will tell us,” she said.
“We are digging and combing through the timeline. It is imperative we go through the timeline, moment by moment, so we can ascertain and answer those questions and get back to you.”
Robinson insists the problem is real, saying the same unit was still unmanned on Monday, long after the escape had been widely reported.
Others, including prison monitors and former city controller and current mayoral candidate Rebecca Rhynhart have also complained about the worsening staffing levels and the potential dangerous situations that come along with it.
“Those vacancies put a huge stress on the officers present and on the day-to-day function of the jails,” said Noah Barth, the prison monitoring director for the Pennsylvania Prison Society, an independent organization that monitors conditions in jails and prisons across the state and advocates for humane conditions for incarcerated people.
No confidence
Barth said he didn't have access to the staffing logbooks, but said monitors for the society had previously reported issues with reported falsifications in the recreation logbooks and in laundry logs. Multiple incarcerated people in different units described being forced to sign the recreational time logbooks and then were not given that time out of their cell. Those prisoners described guards saying their phone privileges would be taken away if they complained.
Most of the reports from the society and accompanying recommendations have been met with denials or skepticism from department leaders, Barth said.
And the staffing shortages mean new officers are working extended overtime shifts.
“Literally yesterday, I had a cadet call me. He just graduated last month, and he said to me, ‘I don’t want to quit, but I don't want to die either,'” Robinson said. “And I want to say hang in there, but I can't tell him stay if he feels he isn't safe.”
Robinson said the council issued a no confidence vote on Carney on May 2, and it was a unanimous vote from membership.
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Bennett says the community deserves better.
“Nineteen hours later is not the time I should have found out. There’s no information at all.”
“They need to find them. I don’t feel safe. It’s close — it’s really, really close,” she said. “There is no protection and still no alteration. There should be more protection.”
There is a $20,000 reward — and an extra $5,000 each — for the capture of Hurst and Grant.
Anyone who believes they may know where the two are is urged to call 911. And authorities say, anyone who may be hiding them or helping them in any way, could also face charges.