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Tag: Clinton Correctional Facility

  • Joyce Mitchell: Chinese Dinner With Husband Provided ‘Moment of Clarity’ for Prison Worker Who Was Supposed to Drive Getaway Vehicle

    Joyce Mitchell is locked up for her role in the prison escapes of Richard Matt and David Sweat from the Clinton Correctional Facility in upstate New York. She was supposed to have picked the two inmates up in her vehicle and returned to her home where they planned to kill her husband, Lyle Mitchell.

    It was during what would have been their last meal together that Joyce Mitchell had a “moment of clarity.” As she and Lyle Mitchell ate Chinese food after work that day, she decided she couldn’t go through with what she had previously arranged.

    “She had a moment of clarity,” an official said during an interview with the Buffalo News. “They went out to dinner at a Chinese restaurant after work at the prison, and Joyce Mitchell had a realization that this was D-Day, and the fantasy she had been living for almost a year was now becoming a reality that included the murder of her husband, who had been a good and supportive man.”

    Without Joyce Mitchell to drive them, the two inmates abandoned their idea of heading to Mexico, and they instead hid out for almost three weeks in the woods of upstate New York.

    Richard Matt was captured and killed on June 26th. David Sweat was shot, but captured alive, just two days later.

    The two had planned their prison break for a year, and Joyce Mitchell’s “moment of clarity” over that Chinese dinner put an end to a year’s worth of work.

    Richard Matt worked in the prison tailor shop that Joyce Mitchell supervised. Although she admits the two had grown close, she maintains they never had a sexual relationship. She did provide some of the things he and Sweat used to break out of prison, however.

    “He gave her specs of what he needed. Hacksaw blades, special eyeglasses with lights attached so that they could work in dark places, a hexagon drill bit, replacement batteries for the eyeglasses. She used her husband’s Amazon account to make purchases,” a law enforcement official said.

    Joyce Mitchell wasn’t the only prison worker arrested for aiding in the escape. Gene Palmer has also been arrested.

    How do you suppose Lyle Mitchell–Joyce Mitchell’s husband–must feel about what his wife has done?

    The man will likely always be grateful, despite those feelings, for eating that Chinese food.

  • David Sweat: Inmate Escapee in Critical Condition Following Shooting, Capture on Sunday

    David Sweat: Inmate Escapee in Critical Condition Following Shooting, Capture on Sunday

    David Sweat, one of two escaped inmates from the Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora, New York, was shot and captured in a farm field, less than two miles from the Canadian border on Sunday. He is now in critical, but stable, condition in an Albany hospital.

    CBS News reports that David Sweat was shot twice in the torso right before his capture.

    New York State Police Sergeant Jay Cook is credited with capturing David Sweat. Cook was alone when he noticed a man walking down the street. A double-take assured the state trooper it was Sweat. David Sweat took off running for a tree line–a great way to escape capture–so Cook shot him twice to prevent that from taking place.

    New York Governor Mario Cuomo told CBS on Monday morning that David Sweat had a bag with him at the time of his capture. In it were maps, bug repellant, tools, and Pop-Tarts.

    Sweat didn’t escape alone from the Clinton Correctional Facility. His partner in crime–Richard Matt–was captured and killed by authorities on Friday. Sources say Matt was sick and drunk when he was captured. Investigators discovered his soiled underwear prior to finding him, and determined he was no doubt ill from consuming either bad food or water.

    The capture of David Sweat will hopefully help law enforcement officials learn exactly how he and Richard Matt escaped from prison. It may also help them determine if there were any other insiders at the prison who helped facilitate their escape.

    Joyce Mitchell, an instructor at the prison tailor shop, and Gene Palmer, a corrections officer, are both in jail for assisting in the escape.

    Surely David Sweat will return to prison once physicians determine he is able to leave the hospital in Albany. What sort of plan do you suppose might be put into place to assure prison officials he doesn’t escape again?

  • Joyce Mitchell Arrested for Assisting Prison Escapees, Pleads Not Guilty

    Joyce Mitchell was arrested on Friday for helping convicted murderers Richard Matt and David Sweat escape from a maximum security prison in New York a week ago. She was charged with providing material assistance to the escapees, according to information shared in a press conference. She has also been charged with promoting prison contraband in the first degree, which is a class D felony, and criminal facilitation in the fourth degree, which is a class A misdemeanor.

    “There is some information that [Mitchell] provided some form of equipment or tools” to the convicts, Clinton County’s District Attorney Andrew Wylie said in an interview with CNN.

    Other reports say Joyce Mitchell did not provide power tools, but other contraband instead. CNN says that a prison employee provided hacksaw blades, glasses with lights on them, and drill bits to the two escaped prisoners.

    Authorities believe Joyce Mitchell was supposed to act as the getaway driver for Richard Matt and David Sweat–picking them up in her car when they emerged from the man hole in the street from which they exited the prison. She reportedly suffered a case of nerves and checked into the hospital instead.

    Joyce Mitchell has been a ‘person of interest’ ever since the two men were discovered missing from the Clinton Correctional Facility.

    It is also believed that Joyce Mitchell’s cell phone was used in conjunction with the prison break, although it’s not yet clear to whom many of the calls were made.

    The escaped prisoners were last seen at 10:30 p.m. on Friday, June 5th, before they escaped from the maximum-security unit at the prison in Dannemora, New York. Their escape was the first since the prison opened back in 1845.

    Joyce Mitchell has pleaded not guilty to the charges. She was ordered held in jail on $100,000 cash bail or $200,000 bond, and is due back in court on Monday morning. She faces up to eight years in prison if found guilty for her crimes.

  • Joyce Mitchell: Prison Employee Questioned in New York Prison Escape of Convicted Murderers

    Joyce Mitchell is the name of a prison worker questioned in the escape of two convicted murderers from a New York penitentiary. Richard Matt and David Sweat were reported missing early on Saturday morning from the Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora, New York. Joyce Mitchell is believed to be somehow involved.

    Employed as an industrial training supervisor at the Clinton Correctional Facility, Joyce Mitchell supervises inmate work assignments. She has worked there since 2010.

    ABC News has learned that Mitchell was questioned on Monday.

    On Tuesday, ABC News approached the home of Joyce Mitchell, but was turned away by local law enforcement officials. She resides about an hour away from the Clinton Correctional Facility.

    Richard Matt and David Sweat made a dramatic escape from the Clinton Correctional Facility after cutting through both steel and concrete. Many believe power tools were involved in their escape.

    It is uncertain thus far how or why authorities believe Joyce Mitchell in involved in the escape of the two prisoners.

    The State of New York is offering a $100,000 reward for information that leads to their whereabouts.

    If Joyce Mitchell is the industrial training supervisor at the prison, does that mean she has constant access to items that may have aided the escaped prisoners–like power tools?