Update: Dec. 1
PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Police are looking for 34-year-old Gino Hagenkotter, a Riverside Correctional Facility inmate who escaped while on an outside work assignment on Thursday. He's the fourth prisoner to escape a city jail this year.
Hagenkotter was in prison for violation of probation relating to several drug and retail theft charges as well as burglary, according to court records.
Philadelphia Department of Prisons Commissioner Blanche Carney said he was participating in the Philadelphia Orchard Project at the Philadelphia Prison Systems Orchard when he asked to use the lavatory. According to the Department of Prisons, Hagenkotter met the criteria to have an outside work assignment.
Carney said Hagenkotter was last seen on video at 11:48 a.m.
Police say after asking to use the bathroom he hopped the fence and left the prison wearing an orange jumpsuit, which he shed after he broke the perimeter.
Deputy Police Commissioner Frank Vanore said police used that jumpsuit to give the dogs a reference for his scent. He said investigators have video of Hagenkotter walking toward Torresdale Avenue after fleeing the prison.
Carney said the officer alerted the prison to the escape at 12:05 p.m. Police then set up a perimeter patrol and coordinated K9 units, and all Philadelphia prison facilities were secured and locked down by 12:20 p.m.
Nearby New Foundations Charter School said it was not alerted to the escape until around 12:45 p.m. When asked why it took the Department of Prisons 40 minutes to alert nearby schools, Carney didn't answer directly, saying only that schools were notified and given additional information as they requested it.
The Prisons Department ordered both New Foundations and nearby Joseph H. Brown Elementary School to shelter in place until the end of the school day. According to the charter school and School District of Philadelphia spokeswoman Monique Braxton, the Philadelphia Police Department was present for dismissal at both schools.
Police say Hagenkotter was supposed to be released to a treatment program but that was canceled because of a retail theft case that popped up out of Bucks County. They believe this is why he escaped, because he was supposed to spend more jail time through April.
Hagenkotter is currently believed to be wearing the clothes that were underneath his jumpsuit: a white t-shirt, khaki pants, and work boots.
Police are asking neighbors in the Northeast to lock their doors and to be vigilant. Although Hagenkotter was in minimum custody, prison leaders say he should not be approached, and anyone who sees him or is contacted by him should immediately call the police.
While police say he doesn’t have a history of violence, residents like Darien, who lives off Torresdale Avenue in the Homlesburg section of the city, are on edge.
Darien got home from work late Thursday night and didn’t find out about the escape until this morning. He said he’s worried for his family’s safety.
“I have a small child here. Anything could happen. Let’s say they’re chasing him and my son runs out into the street — he gets killed. Things of this nature should not be going on.”
Darien and other neighbors KYW spoke with say they’re looking for accountability from prison officials.
Carney said they are short-staffed, but that did not play a role in Hagenkotter’s escape.
The fourth prisoner to escape in a year
This is not the first time this year the city's prison system has come under scrutiny. On May 7, two incarcerated men, Ameen Hurst, 19, and Nasir Grant, 24, escaped through a gap cut in the fence at Philadelphia Industrial Correctional Center. Grant was captured four day later, but it took 10 days for authorities to track down Hurst.
In September, another prison break was narrowly avoided after a new inmate at PICC climbed over a barbed-wire perimeter fence. She was quickly taken back into custody.
This latest escape is sure to heighten criticism of the city's "dangerous and degrading" prison system. Even before Hurst and Grant escaped, the union representing the city’s correctional officers held a special meeting in May for a “no confidence” vote on Carney. AFSCME Local 159 has been calling on Mayor Jim Kenney to remove her from the post, which she has held for about seven years.
Hagenkotter's escape comes less than a day after an incarcerated person was fatally assaulted by his cellmate at Curran-Fromhold Correctional Facility. According to the Philadelphia Department of Prisons, staff present in the housing unit Wednesday night responded and notified medical staff who were unable to revive the man.
Stay with KYW Newsradio as this story develops.