WARREN, Pa. (NewsNation) — Almost a week after Pennsylvania inmate Michael Burham escaped from jail, a former inmate at the Warren Country Prison accused Burham’s escape of being an inside job.
The former inmate, who asked to remain anonymous over concerns of retaliation, served eight months at the Pennsylvania prison last year.
He told NewsNation that based on his experience at the jail, it’s almost impossible for Burham to collect and store blankets without someone noticing.
“I feel like it was given to him. I feel that it had to have been an inside job,” the former inmate said. “I’m not a worker and I can’t honestly say I know for a fact, but I can tell you you’re limited to supplies. You’re limited to certain things.”
Warren County Commissioner Jeff Eggleston, who has seen the prison’s surveillance video, said it took Burham less than 10 seconds to make his escape.
Police said Burham got out through a hole in a chain link fence that caged in the prison’s recreation area, before using a rope of tied-up bedsheets to descend from the roof.
They said the recreation area, which is on the roof of the prison, had security cameras but no staff, despite saying the prison is not facing staff shortages. Burham was reportedly in the caged-in room with three other inmates.
Eggleston said corrections officers on duty that night were not sleeping on the job or looking the other way, but rather they knew within seconds that Burham was making a getaway. They were just too slow to stop him.
The Warren Police Department is conducting a criminal investigation and it hasn’t been ruled out that Burham may have received some help from within the jail to make his escape.
Pennsylvania State Police have been conducting interviews with people all week, and they’ve also learned there was a drone flying over the prison just minutes before Burham escaped.
Police said they weren’t sure if the person flying the drone was doing it recreationally or if it was somehow connected to Burham’s escape plan. They’re now investigating.
Law enforcement has also been actively interrogating potential accomplices.
Burham, 34, broke out of Warren County Prison last Thursday night, yet is still on the loose. He is known to be a “survivalist” with military training who is prepared to withstand the elements and conceal himself. Investigators said that based on the information they have, they believe Burham is still in the area and that he is armed.
The police have received more than 500 tips from the public, but so far there have been no confirmed sightings of Burham.
Chautauqua District Attorney Jason Schmidt said Burham could be anywhere, and the longer that he is out there, the wider the search perimeter becomes.
“I think the rural nature of the area gives a lot of opportunities for someone to hide out, you know, we’re not in the middle of the winter,” Schmidt said.
More than 200 local, state and federal officers from 15 different agencies have been searching the grounds surrounding the prison. They expanded the search area on Wednesday, hoping to cover more ground while drones and helicopters have provided coverage from the air.
“I hope he’s very uncomfortable where he’s at. I hope he understands how hard we will push, how many talented people, how many resources we’re bringing to put him back in prison. He should be uncomfortable with the manhunt that’s going on. As I said, we will catch him,” Pennsylvania State Police Lt. Col. George Bivens said.
The U.S. Marshal’s Service is one of the federal agencies involved with the search. U.S. Marshal for the Western District of Pennsylvania Stephen Eberle spoke exclusively on NewsNation about the manhunt and how dangerous Burham is.
“We do believe he’s getting some assistance. We’re working this actively and aggressively. And we’re putting all the resources we have in the US Marshal Service behind this investigation,” Eberle said.
He continued, “Michael Burnham is definitely a dangerous individual. He’s very desperate right now. We wouldn’t put that there’s something we’re certainly being cautious of all of our officers. Deputies involved in the search had been advised to use extreme caution when searching for Burham.”