Killer Danelo Cavalcante held at maximum-security prison after capture: Here’s what happens to him next
Captured killer Danelo Cavalcante is being held in a maximum-security prison in Pennsylvania, where he will remain as he faces charges stemming from the two-week manhunt he sparked after breaking out from behind bars last month.
The 34-year-old was booked at SCI Phoenix in Montgomery County on Wednesday, hours after a K-9 unit sniffed out his hiding spot under a woodpile about 20 miles north of Chester County Prison — which he escaped on Aug. 31 after crab-walking up and over a pair of close-set walls.
Within hours of his capture, Cavalcante was hit with official charges for the prison break, committed just days after being sentenced to life for stabbing his ex-girlfriend to death in front of her two young children in 2021.
Prosecutors are expected to bring further charges Thursday concerning any crimes he committed during his 14 days on the run.
They will likely include at least burglary and theft charges, as Cavalcante is suspected of stealing clothes and supplies along the way, and even of breaking into a suburban home and making off with a .22-caliber rifle.
A preliminary hearing has been set for Sept. 27, according to court documents, which noted Cavalcante was denied bail.
SCI Phoenix, Cavalcante’s new home for the near future, is described as a “state-of-the-art facility” by the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections.
The $400 million prison, built in 2018, houses up to 3,830 prisoners within its 1.5-mile perimeter.
About 1,200 staff members operate the facility.
SCI Phoenix is one of two state prisons in Pennsylvania that house inmates on death row, according to the Department of Corrections.
If Cavalcante is put to work, he’ll serve out his details at either the prison’s shoe factory, garment factory, or by cleaning laundry.
After the prison opened, inmates transferred from older prisons complained of the highly restrictive procedures inside, ranging from limited telephone access, to being barred from returning to the yard if they returned to their cells to use the bathroom, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer.
Serious escape attempts at the prison have been few — only one is listed by the Department of Corrections, which describes a sexual predator who leaped from a prison roof but was immediately thwarted upon impact with the hard concrete below.
In addition to a number of killers who have been held at SCI Phoenix, comedian Bill Cosby was housed there until his conviction for sexual assault was overturned in 2021.
Cavalcante was left bloodied after his capture Wednesday morning when he tried to escape a Belgian Malinois K-9 named Yoda, who sank his teeth into the killer and pinned him to the ground.
Officers hauled Cavalcante off without firing a single shot, but not before posing for a group photo with their catch.
In addition to the murder of his ex-girlfriend, Cavalcante is suspected of gunning a friend down with six shots in 2017 during a dispute over car repair payments back in his Brazilian hometown.
After that killing, Cavalcante hid out in the Brazillian ranchlands for weeks before making his way north and illegally entering the United States.
