One of two Philadelphia inmates who escaped prison nearly a week ago has been captured, authorities said. He was dressed "in full female Muslim garb and a head covering."
One of two Philadelphia prisoners who escaped nearly a week ago was arrested late Thursday, disguised as a woman "in full Muslim garb," the U.S. Marshals Service announced.
Nasir Grant, 24, appeared stunned to be caught, authorities said.
“I believe he was thoroughly surprised," said Robert Clark, a supervising deputy with the Marshals Service Eastern District of Pennsylvania. "He submitted to our commands, and it was pretty much an uneventful arrest, which is the way we like it,” Clark said.
Grant and 18-year-old prisoner Ameen Hurst, who is charged with four counts of murder, made national headlines after they escaped Sunday night from Philadelphia Industrial Correctional Center and no one at the correctional center noticed they were gone for 19 hours.
The men had cut a hole in a fence, surveillance video showed. Hurst, who is considered armed and dangerous, is still at large.
Investigators were monitoring a Philadelphia neighborhood where Grant was believed to be hiding, the Marshals Service said. About 10:30 p.m. Thursday, Grant "got into a vehicle. We followed that vehicle" and made a traffic stop, Clark said.
Earlier Thursday, police announced the arrest of Xianni Stalling, 21, who allegedly helped the pair escape. Charges filed against her include felony escape, hindering apprehension and conspiracy, according to online court records. She was being held in lieu of $500,000 bail.
Stalling received phone calls from one of the inmates before the two escaped, police said, citing tape-recorded calls made from the correctional facility.
Grant had been awaiting trial on drugs and weapons charges, authorities said.
The escape angered city officials, and the union representing correctional officers. There are more than 800 open positions in the jail department and many prisons are chronically understaffed, the union said.
“Clearly the system screwed up and people didn't do what they're supposed to do," Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney said at a press conference Monday, when the escape was announced. “I’m really angry about it. There’s no reason for this, and if everyone did what they were supposed to do, we wouldn’t have this problem.”
The city's Prisons Commissioner Blanche Carney said at the same press conference, "We have protocols in place and those protocols were not followed." The commissioner acknowledged the prison fence does not have an alarm, and added, "that yard should have been secured, and the fence not breached."
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