Maya Martin, Editor

The story of Danelo Cavalcante’s escape and 13-day run from police has made quite an impression on Pennsylvania and surrounding areas. From an impressive escape, a lengthy police chase, and being spotted in an Eagles sweatshirt, Cavalcante received lots of media attention. However, not all onlookers of this event were looking at it as a mere slip-up on the prison’s part.

La Salle University junior, Kashish Patel said, “The prison itself is to blame because they literally did nothing to prevent his escape considering someone else escaped in the exact same way prior.” The event that Patel recalls happened just this year in May, so many Pennsylvania residents are asking with the frequency of these escapes: Where is the change?

The criticism that the Pennsylvania prison and police forces are receiving is calling on lawmakers to craft necessary changes. According to USA Today and NBC News, Chester County jail facilities, where Cavalcante was located, are dedicating up to $3.5 million to security reforms in response to his escape.

The eight exercise yards with walls and a roof are planned to be fully enclosed. In addition to this, other security proposals made were “Installations of 50 to 75 security cameras, hiring more staff members to monitor the cameras and plans to change inmate uniforms to easily spot escape attempts,” USA Today reported. However, these are only proposals and not official measures that will be taken yet.

Prison reforms have been a hot topic for years now, but to create change is slow. Only time will tell how effective these reforms will be. Enclosing the exercise yards alone will take up to nine months.

Time is ticking just as another escaped felon was captured close to where Cavalcante was found. Mario Che-Tiul, a child sex assault suspect from Missouri, was on the run since June and was only recently captured on Sept. 21 in Chester County, Pennsylvania.

With pressure from feared citizens and additional prison escapes, “A group of Republican state lawmakers are pushing five separate bills dealing with funding for prison security, the recruitment and retention of guards, and penalties for escaped inmates,” according to 6ABC News.

There is an abundance of other safety issues throughout the surrounding areas of Philadelphia, so this is yet another concern Pennsylvanians are increasingly confronting. Cavalcante’s escape has proved it clearer that prison escapes are a problem that needs to be solved from the core by lawmakers, not just police forces.

As of now, no broad immediate change has occurred, so Pennsylvanians will have to continue to hold their breath for reforms. “I typically wouldn’t have been as concerned, but since it was so close to home and my school, it was a bit more worrying,” La Salle University sophomore, Sam Foster, said. “I was glad to hear that he got caught.”