New video reveals flaws in Philadelphia jail where 2 inmates escaped

HOLMESBURG - New video shows exactly how two inmates escaped a Philadelphia jail earlier this year, sparking a 10-day manhunt. For the first time, the Philadelphia District’s Attorney’s office reveals the embarrassing details around the May 7th escape of two inmates from the Philadelphia Industrial Correctional Center on State Road. One of the inmates, an 18-year-old, wanted for four murders.

DA Larry Krasner made the case it was too easy, outlining in a City Council hearing how inmates Nasir Grant and Ameen Hurst slipped away.

Video shows them opening their own cell doors, making their way, undetected, through common areas and finally escaping through a hole in an exterior fence that had been cut seven weeks earlier.

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Krasner also says one of the guards responsible for overseeing the cell block fell asleep, allowing the escape to go unreported for 19 hours.

To make matters worse, it was revealed the perimeter motion detectors outside the jail hadn’t been functioning for the last 10 years. They were turned off, Krasner said, because geese kept tripping the sensors.

Eventually, the 10-day manhunt came to an end May 17th, with the arrest of Hurst in West Philadelphia.

Since then, four others have been charged in connection with helping the pair escape and the placing the Philadelphia jail system under the microscope.