Following the footprints

Warden offers explanation of prison break

By TOM KANE

HONESDALE, PA - A maintenance worker who was removing snow from a recreation area of the prison with two minimum security inmates neglected to lock an outside door which led to the escape of two inmates.

Only five months ago, the $16 million correctional facility opened with a fanfare, allegedly possessing a fool-proof security system.

The recreation yard has no roof but is surrounded by four high walls with a door leading outside.

The event took place at 3:20 p.m. on January 8. Prison Warden Craig Chambers described what happened at the monthly prison board meeting on January 13 before the county commissioners.

When the two inmates noticed that the door was not secured, they affected their escape, according to Chambers, climbing over a five-foot fence. The facility does not have a high-security fence around the complex.

Shortly thereafter, when it was learned that the pair was nowhere in the prison, it was discovered that footprints in the snow outside the unclosed door led over the hill toward Cricket Hill in Indian Orchard. “Immediate notification was made to supervisory and management staff and an immediate lockdown of the facility was initiated,” Chambers said.

Two correction officers set out after them, following their footsteps in the snow.

The two inmates, Richard Edelman, 23, of Honesdale and Anthony Navarra, 17, of Lake Ariel, were later captured by the Wayne County Sheriff’s Department, aided by the Pennsylvania State Police and the Honesdale Police Department at 4:15 p.m. and returned to the prison.

After a short period, the two, who had proceeded only three miles from the prison, were found along Long Ridge Road in Texas Township.

“When the door was not secured, it should have been so indicated on the security system,” said commissioner Tony Herzog, who is the chairman of the prison board. “Since there was no such provision in the system, it would seem that the designers of the prison failed where there should have been a secure connection.”

The text messaging system, which was adopted only three weeks earlier by district attorney Mike Lehutsky, was pressed into use with the news of the escape going out over the email circuits.

At the commissioners meeting, Herzog recognized businessman Rusty Palmer, a neighbor of the prison, who had a suggestion in dealing with future prison breaks. Palmer’s business is a few hundred yards from the prison entrance.

“There ought to be a whistle system or a siren system to warn people when a break has occurred,” he said. “That way, people would be on the lookout for prisoners and would notify the police when they saw them.”

Herzog and the other commissioners were supportive of Palmer’s suggestion and noted that something like a siren system should be adopted.

Brian Smith, chairman of the commissioners, said that rather than building an expensive high-security fence, the county will build a four-wall fence around the area, immediately outside the recreation door.

Edelman was incarcerated two weeks ago for felony robbery charges, accused of robbing a home in Paupack Township. In September, Navarra was charged with felony attempted homicide as an adult when he allegedly fired 9-mm rounds into a Paupack Township home.

The two inmates were charged with a felony, which will extend their prison term, Lehutsky said.

The report made by Chambers did not name the responsible maintenance worker.