Prison worker gave tools to NY jailbreak convicts
Hundreds of police comb thick woods following reports that dogs pick up a scent
new york — A married woman smuggled contraband into a maximum-security New York prison for two convicted killers who cut their way to freedom from the jail a week ago, a prosecutor said on Friday.
Joyce Mitchell “provided some form of equipment or tools” to Richard Matt, 49, and David Sweat, 35, before they escaped from the Clinton Correctional Facility, Andrew Wylie, Clinton County District Attorney, told CNN.
The investigation has focused on how the murderers — one of whom dismembered his former 76-yearold boss and the other who shot dead a sheriff’s deputy — acquired the power tools used to cut their way to freedom.
Hacksaw blades, two pairs of spectacles with attached lights and drill bits were among the items Mitchell allegedly gave the convicts, CNN quoted two unnamed law enforcement sources as saying.
“I’m not going to get into the details of exactly what she brought into the facility,” Wylie told MSNBC. “But to confirm, she has not brought power tools into the facility based on our investigation.”
Meanwhile, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said that the law will come down hard on any prison system employee who crosses the line, as suspicions swirled around a female prison employee believed to have had a role in the escape last weekend of two killers from a maximum-security facility.
“If you do it, you will be convicted, and then you’ll be on the other side of the prison that you’ve been policing, and that is not a pleasant place to be,” Cuomo said. He also said investigators are “talking to several people who may have facilitated the escape.”
Investigators believe the woman had agreed to be the getaway driver but never showed up, a person close to the case said on Thursday
US media had reported that the married mother may have been seduced by Matt, and allegedly agreed to pick the two escapees up with a car, before changing her mind and being admitted to hospital with a panic attack.
Mitchell has been questioned almost daily and is cooperating, but has not yet been charged, Wylie said, although he told CNN that he was considering accessory and contraband charges. The Wall Street Journal reported that prison officials also investigated in the last 12 months whether Mitchell formed a relationship with Sweat while working together in a prison tailoring shop.
The report found not enough evidence to take action against Mitchell, but Sweat was pulled out of the tailoring shop, the newspaper reported.
District schools remained closed for a second day on Friday as hundreds of police combed thick woods and swamps around the prison following reports that dogs had picked up a scent.
CNN and ABC News said dogs picked up a scent about 5km from the prison. A footprint and food wrappers were found at a spot where the men could have bedded down, CNN said. State police refused to comment on specifics, telling reporters that they were wary of giving the two murderers any tips, should they be holed up watching the news on television.
“Everybody needs to remain vigilant until we can confirm whether or not these guys are here or have left the area,” spokeswoman Jennifer Fleishman told reporters on Thursday. More than 500 officers spent the day combing a thickly wooded area east of Dannemora, following a lead police said was developed late on Wednesday.
Aiding in the manhunt were prison guards, forest rangers, FBI agents, federal marshals and border officers, K-9 units and helicopters.
Authorities said Matt and Sweat had discussed heading to the neighboring state of Vermont before escaping. “They are dangerous men. They are killers, they are murderers. There is no reason to believe they wouldn’t do it again,” New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said on Wednesday.
There is a $100,000 reward for information leading to their arrest, and the public has been warned to call 911 immediately if they spot anything suspicious.
Matt, six feet tall with multiple tattoos, was serving a sentence of 25 years to life for the 1997 kidnapping and dismembering of his former boss in a 27-hour ordeal.
He fled to Mexico after the murder and killed an American, before being sentenced to 20 years and extradited back to New York.
Sweat was serving a life sentence without parole for murdering a sheriff’s deputy in New York state in 2002 when he was 22 years old.
The pair’s escape has been likened to Hollywood movies such as
The Shawshank Redemption or Escape from Alcatraz. – AFP