Delaware County accidentally releases prisoner but doesn’t discover mistake for six days

Credit: Delaware County Credit: Delaware County

Staff at the Delaware County prison accidentally released a prisoner who should have been kept behind bars earlier this month, but the county says it didn’t realize the mistake until almost six days later. Even after the mistake was discovered, the county did not issue a press release or other communication notifying the public of the error until this outlet inquired.

It’s the second accidental release in an eighteen-month period, both of which come relatively soon after the government deprivatized the facility.

Two court dockets show Daniel Francis Rogers, 41, was sentenced on Monday, Aug. 5 for two different cases. Rogers received a short sentence for a plea deal that originated with a DUI charge stemming from an arrest in May of 2023.

The DUI-related arrest appears to have triggered a resentencing in a separate case from 2021 in which Rogers was on probation for possession of drugs with intent to distribute.

After he was booked into the George W. Hill Correctional Facility on Tuesday, Aug. 6, he was released three days later.

A county spokesperson emailed the following statement to Broad + Liberty: “On August 9, 2024, an individual was inappropriately released from the custody of GW Hill. We became aware of this inappropriate release on August 15 and immediately notified the relevant authorities, including the District Attorney’s Office, Sheriff’s Office, and the individual’s attorneys. Efforts are currently underway to return the individual to the facility. We are conducting a thorough investigation into the circumstances surrounding this incident and will implement corrective measures to prevent it from happening again in the future.”

The county did not offer an explanation as to why it did not inform the public.

Rogers appears to have been released on the shorter DUI-related case while officials were forgetting that the longer sentence on the drug possession was still in place, but county officials neither confirmed nor denied that potential explanation.

The court document on the possession case indicates Judge Richard M. Cappelli modified Rogers’ sentence on Aug. 15, the day the county says it discovered the error. It’s not immediately clear what that modification entails.

Broad + Liberty left two phone messages with persons who answered the phone at the number listed for Wana Saadzoi, Rogers’ attorney, but those calls were not returned Wednesday.

The prison was under similar scrutiny for a mistaken release in February, 2023.

At that time, however, the error appears to have been caught relatively quickly.

The county’s response sounds similar.

“Upon realization of this error, notifications to partnering law enforcement agencies were immediately made and the collaborative partnership to regain the inmate into custody has been ongoing,” the county said at the time, according to the Delco Times.

The county continues to travel a tumultuous road since it took over day-to-day management of the prison in early 2022 after the facility had been run for nearly three decades by private companies. It was the last privately run prison in Pennsylvania.

Since then, twelve inmates have died, according to Broad + Liberty’s research and reporting. Those deaths include one suspected murder, at least four suicides, and a “delayed homicide.”

(Note: Broad + Liberty counts the government takeover as beginning on Jan. 31, 2022, even though the official christening wasn’t until April of that year. The January date marks when the county’s first warden, Laura K. Williams, took over the facility.)

Assaults within the prison went up in the second year of government management, and newly obtained documents show the prison reported its largest number of assaults for a single month, 32, in May, the last month for which data is currently available.

Additionally, Warden Williams has been under near-constant pressure from complaints from the rank-and-file correctional officers since the transfer in 2022. Those complaints culminated in the union for correctional officers filing an official no-confidence vote to the county council in June.

Did Rogers technically commit the crime of escaping from the prison? One legal expert says no, according to the Delco Times.

“They would not be committing an escape crime,” Delaware County defense attorney Enrique Latoison told the paper last year. “However,” he added, “if the person is now making purposeful attempts to avoid capture, that’s flight to avoid apprehension.”

Todd Shepherd is Broad + Liberty’s chief investigative reporter. Send him tips at tshepherd@broadandliberty.com, or use his encrypted email at shepherdreports@protonmail.com. @shepherdreports

email icon

Subscribe to our mailing list:

3 thoughts on “Delaware County accidentally releases prisoner but doesn’t discover mistake for six days”

  1. What is it with guys named Daniel getting out of prison early. But with early releases from prison in Delco no need to escape.

  2. Hey y’all how you doing it’s Daniel Rogers let me first tell you about that prison it’s absolutely horrible and living conditions are unbearable for instance 15 people in one cell no toilet for over 10 days that’s ridiculous given county blues with bugs in them it’s ridiculous not to mention every time they give you a food tray is half eaten I have to guards don’t speak English when you ask to see a counselor or a white shirt they ignore you that prison gives zero f**** about people I told them numerous times that they weren’t supposed to be releasing me they told me they knew what they were doing and for me to shut my mouth I don’t know what I’m talking about so if they know what they’re doing why should I have to go back for what so I can get treated like s*** then put me in the hole them denied me my actual rights and I’m not hiding or running but other than that you all have a good day

  3. And let’s not forget about when you’re an intake for 5 to who knows how many days you’re sleeping on the floor 15 people to a cell sleeping on a disgusting concrete floor with bugs mice and filthy people and how you’re belongings are missing when you get released smh

Leave a (Respectful) Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *