Following last month’s inmate escape and the consequent 14-day manhunt, Chester County Prison will receive major upgrades, writes Sharifa Jackson for 6ABC. 

Chester County residents got an opportunity to speak to officials face-to-face earlier this week during a town hall that provided people with some answers. 

“Our daily lives were obviously very much interrupted by this,” said Brooke Sarkar of Malvern. 

Convict Danelo Cavalcante escaped the prison on Aug. 31 and was captured on Sept. 13. 

“We take responsibility for what happened here,” said Howard Holland, the acting warden of the Chester County Prison. “Everybody was put in harm’s way.” 

The escape occurred on the first day of Holland’s tenure as acting warden of the prison. He promised to make the needed improvements. 

“We are planning to do numerous safety enhancements, most of which come from technology, personnel movement, including drones, detection methods,” he said. “We are going to take this facility and make it state of the art.” 

Some of the improvements have already started to be implemented, including putting additional razor wire and military-grade mesh in spaces that allowed Cavalcante to escape. The use of K9s and ankle monitors is also being explored for high-risk inmates. 

Read more about the updates at the Chester County Prison at 6ABC.