Escaped murderer still at large; former warden’s pension $62,800

PITTSBURGH (AP) — A former Pennsylvania prison superintendent who retired after a prisoner escape is collecting an annual state pension of $62,800.

Marilyn Brooks was removed as superintendent of the Albion prison shortly after murderer Malcolm Kysor hid in a garbage can and escaped Nov. 25. He remains at-large.

An investigation found Brooks’ staff was negligent and didn’t conduct routine security measures before another inmate helped Kysor hide in a garbage can that was trucked out of the prison.

Brooks went on sick leave in December and retired in January after 25 years with the state Department of Corrections. Her salary was nearly $112,000 a year.

She is getting $5,233 monthly as her pension, according to the State Employees’ Retirement System.

Brooks was also sued twice while superintendent at Cambridge Springs, a female minimum-security prison.

The Pennsylvania Institutional Law Project sued Brooks and other prison officials in 2003 after a guard forced two female inmates at the Muncy prison to have sex with one another while he watched. The guard was convicted and sentenced to prison. Brooks denied wrongdoing.

She was also sued after she fired Cambridge Springs’ maintenance chief, claiming he made sexist and racist remarks about her. He claimed he was really fired for complaining that Brooks spent $53,000 in public money to renovate her state-owned residence. The jury gave him his job back.