Correctional Worker Questioned in N.Y. Prison Escape
DANNEMORA, N.Y., June 8 (UPI) — Investigators are questioning a worker at the Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora, N.Y., after two convicted murderers escaped from the prison over the weekend.
Richard Matt, 48, and David Sweat, 34, broke out of the facility Saturday morning using power tools and other items to cut their way out.
Sources told ABC News investigators were questioning Joyce Mitchell, an industrial training supervisor at the prison. She has not been arrested or charged with any crimes.
Sources told CNN Mitchell knew the men “very well” and worked with inmates tailoring clothing at the facility since 2010.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Matt and Sweat may have had help in executing their plot to escape.
“They wouldn’t have had the equipment on their own, that’s for sure,” he told CNN.
Police say that to escape, the men had to cut through a steel wall at the back of their cells, crawl down a catwalk, break through a brick wall, cut their way into and out of a steam pipe, and then slice through a chain and a lock on a manhole cover outside the prison. Officials believe the men got the power tools from inside the prison, although an inventory of all the facility’s tools turned up none missing.
The state has offered a $100,000 reward for information leading to the capture of the two men. The manhunt has spanned into Canada, which is about 20 miles from the prison.
Cuomo urged the public not to approach the fugitives themselves, but to call police immediately.
Investigators said they had received more than 150 potential leads. Police used dozens of officers, bloodhounds and a helicopter to search for the escaped cons.
“They could be literally anywhere,” said Maj. Charles E. Guess of the New York State Police.
Doug G. Ware contributed to this report.
