Prison Worker Helped Upstate Escapees: Police

The New York State Police have arrested Joyce Mitchell, 51, of Dickinson Center, NY for providing material assistance to Richard Matt and David Sweat to assist them in escaping from Clinton Correctional Facility.

Mitchell was charged with Promoting Prison Contraband 1st Degree, a class D Felony, and Criminal Facilitation 4th Degree, a class A misdemeanor.

They held a press conference to make the announcement Friday evening at the Saranac Junior/Senior High School.

Press reports have been full of Mitchell’s relationship to Sweat and Matt. That includes the fact that after having given them some of the tools for their escape—hacksaw blades, drill bits and headlamps—she was supposed to drive the getaway car but instead checked herself into a hospital with chest pains.

State police continue to search for Matt and Sweat. The focus of the ground search Thursday was a heavily wooded area off New York State Route 374, east of Dannemora. Friday’s search continued to be focused along State Route 374 in the town of Plattsburgh.