By Dana DiFilippo
The Philadelphia Daily News
PHILADELPHIA — For most people, a power outage resulting from Hurricane Sandy was a big bother. For four Philadelphia prison inmates, it was a blessing.
The quartet used a 10-minute outage Sunday night at the Community Education Center’s Hoffman Hall in North Philadelphia to sneak out an unlocked door and escape.
Police on Thursday were still seeking the four and urge anyone who sees them to call their local police station or 9-1-1.
Rafael Zayas, 34; Robert Collins, 22; James Foulk, 25; and Erik Gomez, 27, were “low-custody” inmates at the hall, the city’s only subcontracted jail, prisons spokeswoman Shawn Hawes said. The hall, on D Street near Luzerne, houses about 230 pre- and posttrial male drug offenders and offers an intensive treatment program intended to prevent relapse, Hawes said.
Zayas, Collins and Gomez have lengthy criminal records, filled mostly with drug arrests, as well as frequent probation violations, court records show.
The escape was the system’s first since Oct. 12, 2010, when inmate Kevin Turner escaped the Curran-Fromhold Correctional Facility by hiding on a truck leaving the kitchen’s loading dock. Nine days later, Turner tried to rob a Lawndale jewelry store; he traded gunfire with jeweler William Glatz, and both died.
No inmates have escaped Hoffman Hall since the prison system gave the contract to Community Education Center, which also operates a similar facility in Philly for state prisoners, in 2008, Hawes added.
Authorities are investigating how the 9:20 p.m. breach occurred, Hawes said. All city prisons have a main power source and nonelectrical backup, Hawes said. The backup generator at Hoffman Hall didn’t function, Hawes said, adding that she didn’t yet have details why.
The doors are operated electronically, she said.
“CEC has reinforced its procedures and examined all possible breaches in security so that this will not happen again,” Hawes said.
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