Two Philadelphia Jail Escapees Recaptured After Ten Days on the Run
by Jordan Arizmendi
On May 7, 2023, at roughly 8:30 p.m., two detainees escaped from the Philadelphia Industrial Correctional Center. But it was not until the next day that guards realize they were missing.
That was after Ameen Hurst, 18, and Nasir Grant, 24, missed three headcounts within an 18-hour span. When staff then went looking, they realized that the two had managed to slip out of a door left open and into an outside recreation area, where they cut a hole through the fence and escaped.
If the prison were fully staffed, perhaps the escape would not have gone done so swimmingly. But the Philadelphia Prisons Department is very understaffed. As a result, there were no guards watching the housing unit the evening of the escape. In fact, for the previous nine months, there were no armed perimeter guards on duty during that shift.
The two also had a little inside help. 21-year-old Xianni Stalling was arrested on July 7, 2023, for abetting the escape. A recorded phone call from one of the escapees allowed investigators to connect Stalling to them. Also arrested on May 12, 2023, was a fellow detainee, Jose Flores-Huerta, 35. He was being held on charges stemming from a September 2021 brawl outside a sandwich shop that left a New York City man dead. Flores-Huerta is accused of serving as lookout for the two as they made their escape.
After the pair escaped, they split up. Grant was apprehended in Philadelphia on May 11, 2023, disguised in full female Muslim attire with a head covering. Hurst made it to New York City and remained on the run for nine days before he called authorities to begin negotiating his surrender. He was apprehended the next day inside a car with his brother that was being driven by their mother. Hurst’s brother was also arrested.
Hurst was being held on charges related to three shootings that took four lives in December 2020 and March 2021. Grant was being held on drug and weapons charges. Both now face additional charges for their escape.
Sources: AP News, CBS News, US News, WPVI, WTXF
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