Authorities were searching Tuesday for two inmates, one of them accused of killing four people, who had been out of a Pennsylvania prison for nearly 19 hours before prison officials realized they were missing.
Ameen Hurst, 18, and Nasir Grant, 24, escaped from the Philadelphia Industrial Correctional Center about 20:30 p.m. on Sunday, opening a hole in a fence surrounding a playground, according to the city's Department of Corrections.
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Officials noted that both were in jail in inmate counts conducted at 23 p.m. on Sunday, 00 a.m. on Monday and 3 a.m., Philadelphia Department of Corrections Commissioner Blanche Carney said. The center did not realize they were missing until the count around 00:7 p.m.
"We have protocols and those protocols were not followed," Carney acknowledged. "That yard should have been secured and the fence should not have been crossed," he said.
Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney said at a news conference Monday night that authorities are investigating how they were able to poke a hole in one of the prison yards and escape without anyone seeing. "It's clear that the system screwed up and people didn't do what they're supposed to do," Kenney said.
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Hurst was arrested in March 2021 in connection with four deadly shootings in Philadelphia, according to the city's deputy commissioner of investigations for police, Frank Vanore. On Christmas Eve 2020, he allegedly shot and killed a man. On March 12 of the following year he shot four people, of whom two died, and on March 18 of the same month he shot dead a man waiting for a bus.
"He is a very dangerous individual as far as we know, and we are seeking the public's help in locating him," Vanore said at the news conference.
Grant was being held on charges of drug conspiracy and weapons conspiracy, Blanche said. The inmates were housed in the same unit, but in different cells, he specified.
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In March, two inmates escaped from a Virginia jail by punching a hole in the wall with tools made from a toothbrush and a metal object. They were captured just hours later at a nearby IHOP restaurant, which specializes in pancakes.
In January, five inmates escaped from a Missouri prison through ventilation ducts and plumbing pipes leading to the jail's rooftop.