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Prison guard to be arraigned on charges of helping in New York escape plot Prison guard to be arraigned on charges of helping in New York escape plot
(about 4 hours later)
A maximum-security prison guard who delivered frozen meat with tools hidden inside to two inmates before they escaped will be arraigned on charges of promoting prison contraband and other offenses. A second prison worker was due to appear in court on Thursday afternoon, accused in connection with the escape of two convicted murderers almost three weeks ago in the remote northern part of New York state, as the police continue to comb the forested region and warned that the fugitives could be armed with stolen weapons.
But a lawyer for correction officer Gene Palmer says his client had no knowledge any contraband was inside the meat. The uniformed prison guard, Gene Palmer, 57, was arrested on Wednesday evening and briefly appeared in local court close to the prison in Dannemora, New York, where the audacious prison breakout was staged on 6 June.
“He did pass the hamburger meat. He shouldn’t have done it. He apologized for it,” said defense lawyer Andrew Brockway on Wednesday night. He insisted Palmer didn’t know the inmates were trying to escape. The authorities believe Palmer was given a block of frozen meat that contained a hacksaw blade to take to the two inmates who were plotting their escape. They also believe he gave the inmates access to a narrow steel “catwalk” behind the cells to do some repairs – and they eventually broke out that way.
Palmer worked at the Clinton correctional facility in upstate Dannemora, where inmates David Sweat and Richard Matt were reported missing on 6 June. Palmer, who could be facing up to seven years in jail on charges related to smuggling contraband and tampering with evidence, was released on bail.
He was released from the Clinton County jail around 12.30 am on Thursday after posting $25,000 bail after he appeared before a judge in Plattsburgh to face charges of promoting prison contraband, tampering with physical evidence and official misconduct. He has pleaded not guilty and his lawyer Andrew Brockway insists Palmer had no idea there was anything hidden in the minced beef or that the two inmates had a plan to escape.
Palmer will plead not guilty at his arraignment on Thursday, Brockway said. “I can 100% confirm that he did not know they were planning on breaking out of the prison,” Brockway said.
Authorities say the inmates cut through the steel wall at the back of their cells, crawled down a catwalk, broke through a brick wall, cut their way into and out of a steam pipe and then sliced through the chain and lock on a manhole cover outside the prison. The Clinton County district attorney, Andrew Wylie, has confirmed that Palmer passed a lie detector test to that effect.
Palmer was given the meat to pass to the prisoners by a civilian prison worker, Joyce Mitchell, 51, who was arrested on 12 June and is in custody facing charges related to smuggling tools to the inmates and being involved in their escape plan.
Mitchell was supposed to drive a getaway vehicle once the inmates emerged through a manhole cover in a public street having drilled holes in their cell walls and heating pipes, the authorities have said.
She got cold feet the day before the escape, but did not alert the prison to what was about to happen, police say.
Richard Matt, 49,and David Sweat, 35, escaped from the maximum-security wing of the Clinton correctional facility in Dannemora in the early hours of Saturday 6 June and have been on the run ever since.
Federal, state and local police, forest rangers and prison officers are conducting a huge manhunt and are currently attempting to tighten a dragnet on an area of 75 square miles of remote wilderness around the small town of Malone.
This is the nearest settlement to the most recent credible lead in the investigation. The manhunt has focused so far on a number of hotspots where there were possible sightings.
“We still believe they are in the area where they have the perimeter established, near Malone,” a police source with knowledge of the manhunt told the Guardian on Thursday.
Samples of DNA from both inmates were found in a remote hunting cabin 10 miles from the town, from where they are believed to have fled last Saturday after the owner stumbled upon them.
The unnamed owner saw a man, believed to be one of the fugitives, run into the woods and then discovered clothing and food scraps in the cabin that tests later showed had been used by the men.
Despite the strong clue and the credible sighting on Saturday, exhaustive foot, air and dog patrols have failed to capture the men.
The region centres on the Adirondack mountains and a vast wilderness of dense woods, ravines, lakes, swamps and water courses soaked by frequent thunderstorms in the last 20 days.
Matt and Sweat took a guitar case full of food out of the prison with them – they had access to musical instruments in the prison. But it is not known what provisions they may still have with them or what they have managed to steal from unoccupied hunting and holiday cabins, which are scattered in the woods by the thousand and often only accessible by off-road vehicle.
The police on Wednesday warned the public that they had “every reason to believe” that the men could be armed with hunting weapons stolen from cabins.
“We hope they will make a mistake or come out into the open and be spotted, without anyone getting hurt. But these woods are so dense it’s hard, normally, to find someone who’s lost even when they want to be found. It is very rugged terrain. They could die out there and we may never even know,” the police source told the Guardian.
Related: New York prison break - how two murderers escapedRelated: New York prison break - how two murderers escaped
Sweat, 35, was serving a life sentence without parole in the killing of a sheriff’s deputy. Matt, who turned 49 on Thursday, was doing 25 years to life for the kidnapping, torture and hacksaw dismemberment of his former boss. Sweat, 35, was serving a life sentence without parole for the killing of a sheriff’s deputy. Matt, who turned 49 on Thursday, was doing 25 years to life for the kidnapping, torture and hacksaw dismemberment of his former boss.
Prison employee Joyce Mitchell has also been charged with helping them escape. Mitchell, a prison tailor shop instructor, has pleaded not guilty and remains in custody. Mitchell, a prison tailor shop instructor, has pleaded not guilty and remains in custody.
The Clinton County district attorney, Andrew Wylie, said Mitchell told investigators she smuggled hacksaw blades, a screwdriver and other tools into the prison by placing them in the frozen hamburger meat. He said she then placed the meat in a refrigerator in the tailor shop and Palmer took the meat to Sweat and Matt, who were housed in a section where inmates are allowed to cook their own meals. The district attorney said the guard didn’t know the tools were inside the meat. Wylie said Mitchell told investigators she smuggled hacksaw blades, a screwdriver and other tools into the prison by placing them in the frozen hamburger meat. He said she then placed the meat in a refrigerator in the tailor shop and Palmer took the meat to Sweat and Matt, who were housed in a section where inmates are allowed to cook their own meals.
Brockway said Palmer continues to cooperate with investigators who are trying to track down the fugitives.Brockway said Palmer continues to cooperate with investigators who are trying to track down the fugitives.
“He understands this is a public emergency, and any information that he has he will give to authorities to help capture Mr Sweat and Mr Matt,” Brockway said.“He understands this is a public emergency, and any information that he has he will give to authorities to help capture Mr Sweat and Mr Matt,” Brockway said.
Palmer had been placed on leave on Tuesday. At the time, his attorney told television station WPTZ he was completely forthcoming during several hours of questioning on Saturday.Palmer had been placed on leave on Tuesday. At the time, his attorney told television station WPTZ he was completely forthcoming during several hours of questioning on Saturday.
“I can 100% confirm that he did not know they were planning on breaking out of the prison,” Brockway said.
Searchers hunting for the escaped killers on Wednesday contended with steep slopes, thick woods, sticky bogs, biting bugs and the possibility that the pair on the lam from prison for 19 days are armed.
Police said they remain almost fully certain that Sweat and Matt spent time recently at a hunting camp about 20 miles west of the correctional facility near Owls Head. A hunter said he saw a figure bolting from the cabin on Saturday morning. But after days of intense searching with dogs and helicopters, police still had no substantiated sightings of Sweat and Matt.
Major Charles Guess of the state police said on Wednesday authorities do not have confirmed evidence a shotgun was stolen from the hunting cabin near Owls Head but they have always assumed the escapees were armed. Weapons and ammunition are typically stored in camps, but not everyone keeps an inventory, he said.