New York Prison Employee Allegedly Provided Escaped New York Inmates With Hacksaw Blades and Chisels
A prison worker faces felony charges for providing two convicted murderers with "dangerous contraband" that they used to escape from a maximum security prison in upstate New York.
According to court documents filed Friday in Clinton County Court, Joyce Mitchell allegedly gave inmates Richard Matt and David Sweat hacksaw blades, chisels, a punch and screwdriver bit on May 1, reports ABC News. Officials say the prisoners used power tools to cuts through steel walls and underground pipes in their escape route at the Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora. They then broke through a manhole one block away from the penitentiary last Saturday.
Mitchell, who worked at the prison as a supervisor in the tailor shop, now faces a felony count of promoting prison contraband and eight years in prison. She has plead not guilty.
Mitchell "provided some form of equipment or tools" to the inmates while her husband "possibly could have been involved or at least had knowledge" of the escape, said Clinton County District Attorney Andrew Wylie to CNN.
Prosecutors also slapped Mitchell with a misdemeanor charge of criminal facilitation for "rendering aid" in the prisoners' escape from the Clinton Correctional Facility.
Following their dramatic prison break, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said the inmates must have had help in carrying out the intricate plot.
"They wouldn't have had the equipment on their own, that's for sure," Cuomo told CNN of the convicted killers.
The pair tricked the guards by arranging things in the bunks to look "like people were sleeping ... with these sweatshirt hoodies on," Cuomo said.
The convicts also left a yellow sticky note with a smiley face that read, "Have a Nice Day!"
Matt and Sweat are both serving lengthy sentences for hard core crimes at the prison, which has been dubbed "Little Siberia" due to its location in a sparsely populated northeast corner of New York, about 25 miles from the Canadian border.
New York State officials announced a $100,000 reward for anyone with information leading to their apprehension and arrest.
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