Palmer would smuggle the artwork out without incident, and also bring in art supplies or photographs so Matt could use them to paint.
1 collector and received at least a dozen paintings and drawings from Matt. Sweat told investigators: “When we do … paintings, we give it to you exceptionally cheap because we know that at some point we’re going to be in a bind, or we might need help with something.” But many in the jail received paintings from Sweat and Matt, and the inmates knew exactly what they were doing. Matt’s artwork, especially, had some serious value around the prison. Matt, who had already begun to dabble, helped Sweat take up painting as a hobby. Sweat told investigators that he admired Matt’s paintings, “including one depicting a dog in which ‘you could see every hair … was absolutely beautiful.’”Īnyone who’s anyone wants an original Matt or Sweat.Ī Sweat painting found in the woods near Palmer’s home. According to the report, the two were reunited in the honor block in cells next to each other from August 2013 to September 2014, and again in January 2015 - which they lobbied for so they could plan their getaway.īut their bond was forged over a passion for the arts. (Sweat affectionately called him “Hacksaw.”) The two shared a work station in the tailor shop when their tenure there overlapped. Matt was kicked out of the honor block in 2011, but Sweat sent him treats, including rolled tobacco, while Matt was in exile. The two men first got to know each other in 2010, when they both scored cells in the “honor block,” coveted housing for inmates who displayed good behavior (no disciplinary infractions in nine months) and participated in prison programs. Matt kidnapped, tortured, and killed the 76-year-old man, chopping up his body with a hacksaw. Matt, a career criminal, got 25 years to life in 2008 for the heinous murder of his former employer. A spokesperson for New York State Department of Corrections said the department has put in place a “number of reforms” at Clinton, including installing new cameras and security gates, and retraining and disciplining staff “to help ensure this incident is never repeated.”Īnd now here are some of the wackiest, most intriguing things we learned from the monster report.ĭavid Sweat was sentenced to life in prison in 2002, at age 23, for shooting and killing a police officer. The report also offers a litany of security and protocol recommendations.
The investigation outlines how these two killers hatched the scheme, and relies on interviews with corrections officers, inmates, and the key cast of characters, including Sweat, who paints himself as the true mastermind of the breakout. Matt and especially Sweat may have been clever and slick, but they had plenty of help from lax and lazy guards. The report details a perfect storm of sorts: Matt and Sweat’s tenacious scheming vital assistance from two corrections officers, Joyce Mitchell, who was enamored with the men and brought the tools they needed into the prison, and Gene Palmer, who delivered tool-filled meat to the inmates and egregious breaches in security protocol and willful negligence on part of prison staff and guards. Now, on the anniversary of Matt and Sweat’s flight, the New York State Office of the Inspector General released a report detailing exactly how the two killers managed to plan and execute such an elaborate plot. The manhole that took Sweat and Matt to freedom. He must pay about $80,000 in restitution (the manhunt cost New York State about $23 million in police overtime alone) and got a few extra years tacked on to his prison term, though he was already serving life without the possibility of parole. He pleaded guilty to charges stemming from his escape in November. He survived and is now in solitary confinement. He refused to follow orders and was shot and wounded. Sweat had a few more days of freedom until state police tracked him down on June 28. Matt was shot and killed by a customs agent on June 26. “ Shawshank ain’t got shit on me,” Sweat would later say. The manhunt for the men lasted three weeks. The entire escape took less than an hour. They popped out of a manhole in the village. They snaked through tunnels and between walls and through a steam pipe, which took them underneath the prison. On the night of June 5, a little after 11 p.m., they climbed through holes they had cut - over months, with tools smuggled in by a prison guard - in the cell walls. Richard Matt and David Sweat plotted the breakout for months. Last year, two convicted murderers pulled off a brazen escape from Clinton Correctional Facility, a maximum-security prison in the town of Dannemora, in upstate New York.
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