Saturday, June 13, 2015

Woman smuggled contraband to escaped NY convicts -prosecutor - Reuters

<span id="midArticle_start"/><span id="midArticle_0"/> Two escaped convicts being hunted for the past week received help from a female prison worker who smuggled contraband into the upstate New York facility and may face up to seven years behind bars for her alleged role in their breakout, authorities said on Friday.

<span id="midArticle_1"/>Joyce Mitchell, an industrial training supervisor in the tailor shop at Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora, New York, is being questioned about the escape last weekend of convicted killers Richard Matt, 48, and David Sweat, 34, Clinton County District Attorney Andrew Wylie told reporters.

<span id="midArticle_2"/>"Each day we’re learning more and more as far as what her involvement was, what her relationships were with both Matt and Sweat," the district attorney said.

<span id="midArticle_3"/>Wylie would not give further details about the contraband he said she brought into the facility, but he ruled out power tools.

<span id="midArticle_4"/>To make their escape last weekend, the convicted murderers slipped through holes cut into steel walls and a steam pipe, and popped out a manhole in the street.

<span id="midArticle_5"/> <span class="first-article-divide"/>Mitchell, who local media said is 51 years old and the married mother of an adult son, is not in custody but is under surveillance, working with authorities to establish a timeline on the escape, Wylie said.

<span id="midArticle_6"/>"Right now we have probably Class D felonies against her," he said. "She could potentially be facing 2-1/3 to seven years in state prison."

<span id="midArticle_7"/> <span class="second-article-divide"/>The manhunt on Friday involved more than 800 law enforcement officers, along with sniffer dogs and aviation units, who scoured woods just a few miles from the prison, located about 20 miles (32 km) south of the Canadian border.

<span id="midArticle_8"/>The prosecutor said Mitchell was previously investigated after allegations about her seemingly close relationship with Sweat.

<span id="midArticle_9"/>"There wasn’t sufficient information to either block her out of the facility, have some type of formal charges in the facility filed against her, but action was taken to separate the two of them for a period of time," Wylie said.

<span id="midArticle_10"/> <span class="third-article-divide"/>New York State Police used Facebook on Friday to broadcast a refined description of the fugitives, describing Matt as 5 foot 10 inches (177 cm) and 190 pounds (86 kg) with brown hair and hazel eyes. Sweat is 5 foot 9 inches (175 cm) and 165 pounds (74 kg), with brown hair and green eyes.

<span id="midArticle_11"/>Schools in the Saranac Central School District remained closed for a second straight day, Superintendent Jonathan Parks said in a statement.

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<span id="midArticle_13"/> (Reporting by Barbara Goldberg; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn)

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