A prison guard charged in connection with the escape of two killers admitted providing them with tools, paint, frozen hamburger and even access to a catwalk electrical box, but claims he never knew they planned to bust out, authorities say.
As the search for the convicts entered its 20th day, Gene Palmer, 57, awaited arraignment Thursday on charges of promoting prison contraband, tampering with physical evidence and official misconduct. He was released from jail on $25,000 bail after his arrest Wednesday night.
Palmer is the second Clinton Correctional Facility employee to be charged since Richard Matt and David Sweat cut their way out of the maximum-security prison in far northern New York, close to the Canadian border, on June 6. Prison tailor shop instructor Joyce Mitchell, 51, is charged with helping them break out.
In the statement, Palmer admitted providing Matt with paint and paintbrushes. On four occasions over eight months, he supplied Sweat with needle-nose pliers and a screwdriver. He said he gave Sweat access to the catwalk later used in the escape to change the wiring on electrical boxes as "a favor" to make it easier for them to cook in their cells.
David Sweat, and Richard W. Matt, were both serving long sentences for committed murder. Matt was convicted and sentenced for 25 years to life, for the kidnapping and death of a man in 1997, while Sweat and an unknown accomplice killed a deputy Sheriff in 2002 by shooting him more than a dozen times and was sentenced to life imprisonment without chance of parole.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo of the state of New York is offering a $100,000 reward for any valid information leading to the whereabouts of the two convicts. Prison guards discovered the inmates beds inside the prison were stuffed with clothes to serve as decoys for the escaped convicts in an attempt to fool the guards doing their rounds. Matt and Sweat apparently used power tools to escape the Prison.
