WEST CHESTER, Pa. — While the search for Danelo Cavalcante is over, the search for answers is not.
"We’re wondering why a hardened or dangerous criminal would be placed in a county system," Kennett Square resident Victoria Wiedwald said.
Officials in Chester County answered questions Monday night about the nearly two-week-long manhunt for the convicted murderer. Cameras were not allowed inside the public meeting.
"We're looking to hear citizens’ concerns and when we're looking to help alleviate some of those concerned by the information that we're giving today," Chester Co. Director of Emergency Services Bill Messerschmidt said.
County officials shared immediate changes at the prison, including closing off the area where Cavalcante escaped and renewed siren tests.
They also shared what they plan to do long term, which includes plans for enclosed exercise yards, roughly 50 to 75 more cameras, and drones to monitor outside activity.
Residents like Kirk Harman, who lives just two miles from the prison, asked questions ranging from the holding of high-risk prisoners, the alert system, and staffing.
"I don't recall the numbers that he ran off but there was a significant low level of staff compared to where they want to be staffed," Harman said.
A survey by the Pennsylvania Prison Society shows that in 2022, the Chester County Prison had approved 252 security staff, with only 187 of those filled on the books. Acting Warden Howard Holland says that didn't play a factor.
"Not in this escape, no," Holland said prior to the meeting. "What you have to understand with the vacancies is it's not based on population, it's based on positions in the prison."
Howard did confirm during public comment that the facility was operating on Pennsylvania’s legal minimum of 45 security personnel on the day of the escape.
As of Monday night's meeting, Chester County Prison currently holds more than 700 inmates.
Harman also asked about financial losses to the community.
"Many of the small businesses [operated] two weeks for pretty much no income," Harman said. "That could put somebody under. So I wonder how the county or the state is going to address those kind of losses.”
Residents, still processing the stress, say they want to see change.
“I want to see the prison system change," Wiedwald said. "I'd like to see hardened criminals not come to a lighter prison, but go to state prison immediately."