New York Post

SHAW SKANK SEX TRIANGLE

She was sleeping with both inmates

- By FRANK ROSARIO in Dannemora, NY, and JAMIE SCHRAM and BRUCE GOLDING in New York jschram@nypost.com

Prison worker Joyce “Tillie” Mitchell, hauled into court yesterday wearing jail stripes, had sex with killers Richard Matt ( inset, far left) and David Sweat before helping them escape, sources said.

Married jailhouse worker Joyce “Tillie” Mitchell had dirty prison sex with each of the two inmates she helped bust out, sources told The Post on Monday.

Mitchell, 51, first hooked up with convicted cop killer David Sweat, whom she supervised in the sewing shop at the Clinton Correction­al Facility in upstate Dannemora, sources said.

Sweat got transferre­d out of the shop after an inmate tipped off authoritie­s to their relationsh­ip — and Mitchell landed in the arms of his fellow murderer Richard Matt, sources said.

Matt and the dumpy granny got hot and heavy behind the same prison walls — and she fell in love with him, sources said.

Matt — whom a former detective has described as particular­ly “wellendowe­d”— allegedly persuaded Mitchell to smuggle in tools that he and Sweat used to break out of the maximumsec­urity slammer.

They have been on the run since June 6, eluding a massive manhunt by an army of lawenforce­ment officers. “They both played her,” a source said. Mitchell had reportedly plotted with the inmates to kill her husband, prison maintenanc­e worker Lyle Mitchell, as part of a plan that also involved fleeing to a cabin in Vermont.

Clinton County Sheriff David Favro speculated that Joyce Mitchell would have wound up dead if she hadn’t backed out of meeting Sweat and Matt with a getaway car when they climbed out of a manhole beyond the prison walls.

“Joyce Mitchell, in my mind, would have just been luggage and would have slowed them down,” Favro said.

“If she went with them, I believe she would have been killed. I mean, why keep her? It makes no sense.”

Favro said the men had clearly “played on her emotions.”

“They looked at her characteri­stics and they took advantage of her. They knew they could get something out of her,” he said.

“In reality, she was the fallout that was going to take the heat off.”

Monday marked Day 10 of the search for the killers, which Clinton County District Attorney Andrew Wylie said was costing taxpayers “upwards of a million dollars a day.”

The manhunt now involves more than 800 local, state and federal lawenforce­ment personnel who are focusing on a stretch of Route 374 that runs from the prison through Cadyville, about five miles southeast.

State Police said part of the road would remain closed to traffic at least through Tuesday.

Mitchell, who was busted Friday, appeared briefly Monday in Plattsburg­h City Court, where she was brought in wearing handcuffs and leg irons.

The disgraced prison employee wore black and white striped jail clothes under a blue bulletproo­f vest, and pair of brightoran­ge rubber clogs.

She stood stonefaced and spoke only once, softly saying, “Yes” when the judge asked whether she agreed to have her lawyer, Keith Bruno, replaced due to an unspecifie­d conflict of interest.

Her new lawyer, Stephen Johnston, waived Mitchell’s right to a preliminar­y hearing, and she was hauled back to jail to await indictment by a grand jury.

Johnston didn’t immediatel­y respond to requests for comment.

Sheriff Favro said Mitchell, who is being held on $ 200,000 bond, was “under direct, oneonone supervisio­n” with “an officer several feet away from her at all times.”

Favro also said she was put into the bulletproo­f vest as protection from potential assailants outraged over her alleged crimes.

“There is a lot of fear in the community . . . There are people out there who may feel hostility towards Ms. Mitchell,” he said.

“I can’t have those people fully informed and lining up outside ready to throw stones or, even worse, shower us with bullets.”

Also Monday, Gov. Cuomo said he had ordered the state Inspector General’s Office to hire a “a respected outside expert in correction­s and law enforcemen­t” for a top to bottom review of how Sweat and Matt were able to pull off their elaborate escape.

 ??  ?? RICHARD MATT
RICHARD MATT
 ??  ??
 ??  ?? DAVID SWEAT
DAVID SWEAT
 ??  ?? ‘ PLAYED’: Prison worker Joyce Mitchell, wearing jail stripes, shackles and a bulletproo­f vest, is led out of Plattsburg­h City Court on Monday after a brief hearing.
‘ PLAYED’: Prison worker Joyce Mitchell, wearing jail stripes, shackles and a bulletproo­f vest, is led out of Plattsburg­h City Court on Monday after a brief hearing.

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from United States