The great escape: Using power tools, two murderers burrow one block to exit NY prison
Two convicted murderers cut through a steel wall in their adjacent cells, climbed down catwalks and burrowed underground for more than the length of a city block to escape from New York’s Clinton Correctional Facility through a manhole over the weekend.
Officials said Richard Matt, 48, and David Sweat, 34, somehow obtained power tools and are investigating to determine whether anyone helped them pull off the first escape since the maximum-security prison, which has 30-foot walls, was built in 1865. The two left dummies in their place to deceive guards assigned to make bed counts every two hours, according to ABC News, CNN, the New York Times (reg. req.) and the Wall Street Journal (sub. req.).
A reward of $100,000 is being offered for information leading to the capture of both men, or $50,000 for the capture of just one of them.
The two left behind a note with a smiley face that said “Have a nice day!” and Gov. Andrew Cuomo said in an interview with the ABC News program Good Morning America that he is looking forward to returning the note to them when they are captured.
In addition to trying to find out where Matt and Sweat got the power tools and whether they used a getaway car, Cuomo said investigators believe other inmates may have cooperated, or at least turned a blind eye to the escape as the two men cut through foot-thick walls and heavy pipe.
“I chatted with a couple of the inmates myself and said, ‘You must be a very heavy sleeper,’” said Cuomo. “They were heard, they had to be heard.”
See also:
ABAJournal.com: “Convicted Bank Robbers Escape Federal Prison in Chicago, Climb Down 15 Floors Using Bedsheets”
ABAJournal.com: “Bank robber who used bedsheet rope to exit 17th-story prison cell gets 41 months for escape”
