Inmate who escaped from Bucks County jail gets state prison term
- Original The Morning Call article: Inmate who escaped from Bucks County jail gets state prison term
A career criminal who left Bucks County Prison officials red-faced in December when he escaped from the jail by vaulting two fences topped with razor wire will be leaving the county's supervision again.
This time, though, he's headed to state prison.
Frank Neisser, 41, of Philadelphia was sentenced Thursday by county Judge Rea Boylan to 31/2 to seven years in state prison on the escape charge.
She added an additional nine to 18 months on the forgery charges that put Neisser in the Doylestown Township jail to begin with.
''The community needs to be protected,'' said Chief Deputy District Attorney Marc Furber, who prosecuted the case. ''This is a very serious offense, the first-ever escape from the maximum security portion of the prison facility.''
Furber said Neisser -- who pleaded guilty to both sets of charges Thursday -- told Boylan he considered the cold rain on the night of his escape a sign from God that he was meant to get away.
He also detailed how he suspended himself between two bunk beds to kick the glass out of a window in the modular prison unit, then hoisted himself onto its roof.
From there, Furber said Neisser climbed over two fences topped with razor wire, hurting his knee in the process, crossed several streams and hid out in a barn and children's playhouse in a nearby residential neighborhood.
Eventually, he made his way to Bristol, then northeast Philadelphia, where he was arrested aboard a SEPTA bus Dec. 20.
Neisser was sentenced to state prison as recently as 2001, Furber said, and has a criminal record dating to 1981.
Good riddance, said county Corrections Director Harris Gubernick.
Gubernick said he was glad that Boylan handed Neisser the maximum sentence for the escape, and that it took less than three months for it to be imposed.
''There has to be a strong message that you just don't do that, flat out,'' Gubernick said. ''And it's got to be swift.''
Gubernick said the prison has taken a variety of steps to improve security at the prison to prevent a recurrence. It has added razor wire, reinforced the windows on the modular unit, added grates and improved security procedures, he said.
scott.kraus@mcall.com 215-230-4930
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