Gothamist
A non-profit newsroom, powered by WNYC.
Gothamist
Listen Live
News
Escaped Murderers Allegedly Planned To Kill Husband Of NY Prison Worker
By
Ben Yakas
Published Jun 14, 2015
Modified Jun 14, 2015
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
Never miss a story
Email address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .
By
Ben Yakas
Published Jun 14, 2015
Modified Jun 14, 2015
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
We rely on your support to make local news available to all
Make your contribution now and help Gothamist thrive in 2026. Donate today
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Another day, another crazy twist in the story of two convicted murderers who escaped from an upstate prison last weekend, and the prison worker who has been accused of aiding them. According to the Daily News, prison tailor shop instructor Joyce Mitchell, 51, has now told investigators that convicts Richard Matt, 48, and David Sweat, 34, planned to kill her husband after leaving prison.
"They planned on killing her husband," the police source told the News. "Said the plan was to pick them up and go to her house. She didn’t say that she was going to help them" kill her husband. Mitchell reportedly has admitted that she was supposed to get their getaway driver—but she claims she only knew where to pick them up, not where they ultimately were heading. She did know however that it was going to be a wooded area about seven hours away, where a four-wheel drive would be needed.
"It's basically, to show up down at the power house at around midnight, and pick them up. As we all know now, she failed to show up," Clinton County District Attorney Andrew Wylie told NBC News about the plan. "Pick them up, leave the area. The three of them were going to move on together. That was the plan."
Wylie adds that Mitchell doesn't appear to have been in on the plan from the beginning. "The information that she provided us is that she was learning little pieces of that [plan] leading up to last Friday night, early morning hours of Saturday," he said. Mitchell apparently got cold feet and checked herself into a local hospital for a "panic attack" the day of the escape. Wylie says this was at least in part because she didn’t want them hurting her husband.
After the escape, Mitchell told investigators Matt made her feel "special." NBC says it got to the point that "she thought it was love."
Gov. Cuomo weighed in on the latest developments, promising zero tolerance for state employes who aid criminals: "I understand prisons run on a delicate balance," Cuomo said. "And having a good relationship between the guards and the inmates, guards and the employees, employees and the inmates is important. But, there's a line. And when the line is stepped, then action has to be taken."
Mitchell was arraigned late Friday on the felony charge of promoting prison contraband and misdemeanor count of criminal facilitation. She was ordered held in jail on $100,000 cash bail or $200,000 bond on felony count. She helped inmates at Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora learn who sew clothes and learn to repair sewing machines. Mitchell allegedly provided Matt and Sweat with hacksaw blades, chisels and screwdriver bits, which they then used to facilitate their dramatic breakout through the catwalks underneath the prison.
Sweat was imprisoned for life for killing a sheriff's deputy in Broome County, and Matt was serving a 25-year sentence for killing and dismembering an upstate businessman. During their escape, they managed to cut through their cell's steel walls, traverse the catwalks in the prison's infrastructure, hack into a steam pipe that wasn't in use, and finally climb out through a manhole on the other side of the prison walls.
More than 800 additional law enforcement agents have been called in to help with the search for the two men, with much of the focus on the immediate area around Dannemora. However, by all accounts, there are no real leads at the moment.
Tagged
clinton correctional
david sweat
joyce mitchell
police
prison break
richard matt
upstate ny
Ben Yakas
Ben Yakas is a former Gothamist reporter.
Read more
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
MORE news
These are the NYC neighborhoods that will get free 2-K next fall
All of Staten Island and the Bronx will be eligible for seats.
By
Karen Yi
Published Oct 19, 2026 at 11:00 a.m. ET
Early Addition: Get to know Wanda, the donkey in the Met's 'La Bohème'
Because she's 18 years old now, here are your early links: The RHONY castmember mentioned in the Epstein Files, killing rats with carbon monoxide, Selena Gomez says don't vape and more.
By
James Ramsay
News
Early Addition: Get to know Wanda, the donkey in the Met's 'La Bohème'
Because she's 18 years old now, here are your early links: The RHONY castmember mentioned in the Epstein Files, killing rats with carbon monoxide, Selena Gomez says don't vape and more.
By
James Ramsay
Eric Adams' NYC buildings boss Eric Ulrich heads to trial, 3 years after arrest
By
David Brand
and
Samantha Max
Need help with mental health or addiction services? NYC has a new tool.
By
Caroline Lewis
NYC sues personal injury law firm accused of bogus trip-and-fall claims
By
Walter Wuthmann
Never miss a story
Catch up on the most important headlines with a roundup of essential NYC stories, delivered to your inbox daily.
Sign upEmail address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .