What happens after the murderer is captured?
Captured killer Danelo Cavalcante is being held at a maximum-security prison in Pennsylvania, where he will remain as he faces charges stemming from the two-week manhunt he sparked after escaping from prison last month.
The 34-year-old was jailed at SCI Phoenix in Montgomery County on Wednesday, hours after K-9 units located his hiding place under a pile of wood about 20 miles north of the Chester County Jail – where he escaped on August 31 after Crawling up and over two walls that are close together.
Just hours after his arrest, Cavalcante was formally charged with the prison break, which came just days after he was sentenced to life in prison for stabbing his ex-girlfriend to death in front of their two young children in 2021.
Prosecutors are expected to file additional charges Thursday related to any crimes he committed during his 14-day escape.
They will likely include at least burglary and theft charges, as Cavalcante is suspected of stealing clothing and supplies along the way and even breaking into a suburban home and making off with a .22-caliber rifle.
According to court documents, a preliminary hearing is scheduled for Sept. 27 where they say Cavalcante was denied bail.
SCI Phoenix, Cavalcante’s new home for the near future, is described by the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections as a “state-of-the-art facility.”
Built in 2018, the $400 million prison houses up to 3,830 prisoners within a 1.5-mile radius.
Around 1,200 employees operate the facility.
According to the Department of Corrections, SCI Phoenix is one of two state prisons in Pennsylvania that house inmates on death row.
When Cavalcante is sent to work, he will do his job either in the shoe factory, the prison clothing factory, or doing laundry.
After the prison opened, inmates transferred from older prisons complained about the extremely restrictive procedures inside, ranging from limited access to telephones to not being allowed to return to the yard when they returned to their cells to wake up to go to the toilet, it means Philadelphia Investigators.
There have been few serious prison escape attempts – only one is listed by the Department of Corrections, involving a sex offender who jumped from a prison roof but was immediately thwarted upon hitting the hard concrete below.
In addition to a number of murderers held at SCI Phoenix, comedian Bill Cosby was also housed at the facility until his sexual assault conviction was overturned in 2021.
Cavalcante was left covered in blood after his capture Wednesday morning as he tried to escape a Belgian Malinois K-9 named Yoda, which sank its teeth into the killer and pinned him to the ground.
The officers dragged Cavalcante away without firing a single shot, but not before posing for a group photo with their catch.
In addition to murdering his ex-girlfriend, Cavalcante is suspected of shooting a friend six times during a dispute over car repair payments in his Brazilian hometown in 2017.
After this murder, Cavalcante hid in Brazilian ranchland for weeks before making his way north and illegally entering the United States.
