Recaptured Pennsylvania Killer Moved to State's Most Advanced Maximum-Security Prison

Danelo Cavalcante, the convicted murderer recaptured after a two-week manhunt in Pennsylvania, spent Thursday morning in a far more secure setting than the one he fled. Authorities have placed him in State Correctional Institution Phoenix, which the state describes as its most advanced and most expensive prison.

The maximum-security facility is in Montgomery County. Patch reported that Cavalcante is being kept in what officials call a "specialized observation unit." The prison once also housed disgraced comedian Bill Cosby.

The Pennsylvania Department of Corrections calls SCI Phoenix a "state-of-the-art facility." It is considerably more secure than Chester County Prison, which Cavalcante escaped on Aug. 31. Surveillance footage from that morning shows the 34-year-old climbing a wall in the prison yard and then getting onto the roof, without being noticed by a guard in a watchtower.

During the two weeks he was at large, Cavalcante evaded law enforcement by breaking into homes and taking food, stealing a delivery truck and changing his appearance. He intended to reach Canada.

The case turned overnight Wednesday, when a plane equipped with a thermal imaging camera detected his heat signature. Officers followed the signal to a wooded area and surrounded him. Even then, Cavalcante tried to run, and authorities sent in a K9 named Yoda, who is credited with subduing him.

He was quickly arraigned on an escape charge at the Avondale barracks and then transported to SCI Phoenix. There he will serve a life sentence for murdering his girlfriend.

SCI Phoenix is the state's newest correctional facility. It opened in 2018 to replace State Correctional Institution Graterford, which dates to 1929. The new prison has 3,422 beds, far more space than its predecessor and modern security features, and it cost $400 million to build.

So far, no inmate has managed to escape from the facility.