A Philly man serving a 16-year jail sentence for shooting at a cop is back in prison after being mistakenly released, authorities say
Jamal Burkett was free for nearly a month before an audit revealed that he had been mistakenly released more than 10 years early, U.S. Marshals said.
A Philadelphia man sentenced to 16 years in federal prison for shooting at a Philadelphia police officer was mistakenly released from prison, authorities said, and remained out for nearly a month before being arrested Wednesday.
Jamal Burkett, 53, was taken into custody by U.S. marshals about 7 a.m. at a relative’s home on the 7900 block of Lindbergh Boulevard without incident, the U.S. Marshals Service said in a statement.
Burkett is charged with failure to surrender and was taken to a federal detention center, authorities said.
Burkett pleaded guilty in February 2023 to assaulting a federal officer and weapons possession for shooting at a Philadelphia police officer who had been assigned to a federal task force on March 26, 2022, according to court records.
He was sentenced to 192 months, or 16 years, in federal prison for his crimes, court records show.
On May 14, Burkett was mistakenly released from Curran-Fromhold Correctional Facility after local charges were satisfied, the U.S. marshals said.
A Tuesday audit by the marshals revealed that Burkett had been released prematurely, and a federal judge immediately issued a warrant for his arrest, the marshals said.
In a statement issued late Wednesday afternoon, John Mitchell, spokesperson for the Philadelphia Department of Prisons, said: “PDP honors judicial detainers. In this specific case, PDP did not have a detainer on file, which would have indicated Mr. Burkett was due to be transferred to federal custody to serve his federal sentence.”
Authorities believe Burkett had been staying at the relative’s home in the Eastwick section of the city since he was released, said Robert Clark, supervisory deputy U.S. marshal for the Eastern Pennsylvania Violent Crime Fugitive Task Force.
Burkett was well aware of the more than 10 years remaining on his prison sentence, Clark said.