2015 Clinton Correctional Facility escape

The 2015 Clinton Correctional Facility escape took place on June 6, 2015, when two inmates, Richard Matt and David Sweat, were discovered missing during a 5:30 a.m. bed check at the maximum security Clinton Correctional Facility. Both were serving life without parole for murder.^[1] Nearly three weeks later, Matt was found at Malone, New York, where he was shot and killed;^[2] and two days after that, Sweat was shot and taken into custody.^[3] The manhunt and investigation was said to cost about $23 million.^[4]

Escape

On June 7, 2015, it was reported that an "external breach" was found on a street approximately 500 feet (150 m) south of the prison wall. The inmates were later stated to have tunneled out of the facility with hacksaw blades provided by a corrections department employee. The men were housed in Honor Block, a privileged housing unit, that allowed them access to cooking stations, televisions, wall mounted telephones, showers, and card tables in the cell house at specified intervals during the day.^[5][6] According to news reports, the escapees used tools from contractors to cut their escape way during the nights, and returned them to their toolboxes afterwards.^[7]

The escape was elaborate and has been compared to the escape made in the novella and film by Stephen King, The Shawshank Redemption.^[8] New York Governor Andrew Cuomo took a walking tour of the facility with publicity cameras present.^[9][10]

Authorities found that the two had planned to be picked up by a prison employee, Joyce Mitchell, who later decided not to do so, and then, according to a relative, developed chest pains and was hospitalized.^[11][12] A second employee, prison guard Gene Palmer, was also charged with aiding the escape.^[13] Palmer admitted to investigators that he smuggled tools into the prison and did other favors for Richard Matt in exchange for paintings.^[14]

Manhunt

Authorities searched the farms and fields around the town of Willsboro, New York, after receiving a tip that Matt and Sweat may have been spotted there on June 9.^[15]

Authorities spent June 9 and 10 retracing their steps near Dannemora after searching Willsboro, and also expanded the search to the border with Vermont, saying the two may have tried to flee to the state. Authorities in Canada, including the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) and departments along the border with the U.S., and Mexico, where Matt had previously been convicted of murder, were also alerted. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), state and local police, and the New York State Forest Rangers (the Adirondack State Park covers the area) were all involved in the search, which was being led by the local police and the United States Marshals Service working with prison officials. There was a $50,000 bounty set for each inmate by Governor Cuomo and was subsequently increased to $75,000 when the U. S. Marshals added $25,000 each. There were no reports of break-ins, robberies, or murders, but there were two reports of sightings. In all the cases, police had not had any run-ins with the actual escapees before they presumably left the area.

A stretch of nearby New York State Route 374 was closed until further notice on June 11. School classes were canceled in Dannemora and Saranac. Later that day, the number of officers present in the area near the prison was raised to more than 500, from the initial estimate of between 300 and 400. That afternoon and evening, after bloodhounds picked up a scent and authorities discovered a footprint and a wrapper, police began methodically searching, until nightfall, a wooded area near the nearby town of Cadyville, New York. Police, however, said this was not a lead that produced definite evidence that the escapees were still in that area. Areas of the more populous nearby city of Plattsburgh and parts of Lake Champlain had also been searched, and billboards asking for help were put up in New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Vermont, Pennsylvania, and along the Canada–US border.^{[16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27]}

On June 12, the seventh day of the search, it was reported that there was still no confirmed sighting of the escapees.^[28] Later that day, prison worker Joyce Mitchell was arrested and charged with aiding the escapees. Her bond was set at $200,000.^[29][30]

According to reports from June 13, the continued search also included helicopters, all-terrain vehicles, and search dogs. However, bad weather conditions with rain hampered search efforts.^[31]

On June 20, the search continued in Allegany County in western New York based on a sighting in the town of Friendship, New York.^[32]

On June 22, the search shifted back to an area near the prison after a cabin near Owls Head in Franklin County was discovered to have been broken into. DNA from the inmates was found in the cabin and investigators concluded that they had been there within the previous 24 hours.^[33]

In the days after the escape some prisoners reported having been beaten by guards in an attempt to obtain information as to the whereabouts and plans of the escaped inmates.^[34]

Death of Matt, capture of Sweat

On June 26, Matt was spotted in Franklin County, New York, and was shot and killed by border patrol agents in the wilderness of Elephants Head, south of Malone, New York, 50 miles (80 km) from Clinton Correctional Facility. Sweat's location was unknown at the time of Matt's death.^[2]

On June 28, a New York state trooper shot Sweat twice while they were in a field near Constable, New York, roughly 16 miles (26 km) north of where Matt had been killed and just 1.5 miles (2.4 km) from the Canada–US border. He was transported to the Alice Hyde Medical Center in Malone. He was later transferred to Albany Medical Center, where it was reported that he was in critical condition.^[3] His condition was later upgraded to fair by July 1.^[35] On July 5, Sweat was moved to a Special Housing Unit in the maximum security Five Points Correctional Facility in Romulus, New York.^[36]

Investigation

On June 15, Governor Cuomo ordered New York State Inspector General Catherine Leahy Scott to investigate the prison break.^[37]

On the morning of June 16, with the prisoners still eluding capture, the Associated Press reported Mitchell had provided Matt and Sweat with hacksaw blades, chisels, and other tools. According to Clinton County Attorney Andrew Wylie, who is overseeing the prosecution of Mitchell, "[s]he had agreed to be the getaway driver, but backed out because she still loved her husband and felt guilty for participating." The report also noted workers welded shut the manholes made by the two inmates. "Ms. Mitchell was Plan A and there was no Plan B, which is why authorities have now been concentrating their search to a perimeter around the maximum security prison," Wylie said.^[38] According to the Associated Press, Mitchell waived a preliminary hearing, allowing the case to immediately proceed in county court.^[39]

Clinton County Sheriff David Favro disagreed with Wylie's interpretation, telling CNN that Mitchell's getaway car was only a 'Plan B'. Favro suspects their actual elaborate plan, which was the one the escapees actually carried out, had a more foolproof 'Plan A' than simply relying on the woman who worked in the prison's tailoring shop as Mitchell believed-and led authorities to believe. Favro added he concluded multiple people may have assisted Matt and Sweat, the implication after several weeks being they had considerable outside help.

On June 17, it was revealed that Mitchell, who has been suspended without pay from the $57,000-a-year position she held, had discussed having her husband, Lyle, killed in a potential murder-for-hire deal with Matt, whom she had been close to, and Sweat.^[40] According to CNN's report of Joyce Mitchell's confession, Matt referred to her husband Lyle as the "glitch" and planned to kill him after the escape. Matt reportedly gave Mitchell two pills to give to her husband Lyle to incapacitate him, in order to facilitate Matt's planned murder of Lyle. Reportedly, she later decided not to go through with Matt's plan and threw away the two pills out of sentiment for her husband. Authorities have no reason at this time to suspect Mitchell's husband knew of or participated in the breakout. According to the Press-Republican, he visited his wife on June 16, and then the New York State Police barracks in Malone, New York, the next day, to speak with authorities. The search expanded to an area beyond the 16 square miles around the prison that was being searched. Some roadblocks were lifted and the force reduced from over 800 to about 600.^[38]

Police had received several tips during the last few days of the manhunt that led to the killing of Matt and the capture of Sweat. Police believe Matt had fallen ill due to consuming spoiled food or dirty water based on soiled undergarments discovered at one of the cabins the duo had broken into. Further investigation led to police finding Matt and shooting him to death.^[41]

Interrogations with Sweat after his capture later revealed he and Matt practiced their escape once in the prison and were nearly found on two separate occasions during the manhunt. During the first instance, he and Matt were hiding in a cabin when three people arrived to check on it, debated whether they should stay or leave, and then left. On the second instance, Sweat was hiding in a hunting tree stand that was passed by a police officer. Sweat also claimed he and Matt separated on June 23 after Matt became unfocused and was "slowing him down".^[35]

An autopsy of Matt was released on August 6, which verified his cause of death as skull fractures and brain damage. It also revealed he had a blood alcohol level of 0.18%, which is more than twice the level of intoxication for drunken driving under New York law.^[42]

On June 15, 2015, Governor Andrew M. Cuomo directed Inspector General Catherine Leahy Scott to conduct a thorough investigation to determine all factors potentially involved in the escape of inmates Richard Matt and David Sweat from Clinton Correctional Facility. At the Governor's instruction, the Inspector General was to obtain the services of a respected outside expert in corrections and law enforcement on issues such as prison design, operations and security with a view toward identifying how these inmates were able to escape, and recommend any potential reforms and best practices to prevent future incidents.^[43]

Aftermath

David Sweat plead guilty to two felony counts of first-degree escape and an additional count of promoting prison contraband.^[44] He was sentenced to three-and-a-half to seven years, to be served consecutively with his previous life sentence.^[45] He was further ordered to pay $79,841 in restitution.

Joyce Mitchell plead guilty to promoting prison contraband and criminal facilitation.^[46] She was sentenced to two-and-a-third to seven years in prison, fined $6,375, and ordered to pay $79,841 in restitution.^[47][48]

Gene Palmer pled guilty to promoting prison contraband, a felony, he was sentenced to 6 months in jail and fined $5000.^[49]

The Inspector General's report was released in June 2016 and found "that longstanding, systemic failures in management and oversight by DOCCS enabled two convicted murderers to meticulously orchestrate their escape from a maximum security facility almost in plain sight."^[50] The report noted the failures of 20 individual correctional employees, both civilian and uniformed. Excluding Gene Palmer and Joyce Mitchell, no criminal charges were brought against any other prison employee. One was demoted, two are suspended pending arbitration, nine returned to work after lesser penalties were applied, and the remainder retired or resigned before being punished. The report was highly critical of a lack of cooperation, and misleading and lying testimony by prison employees.^[51]

References