The 2015 Clinton Correctional Facility Prison Escape: A Real-Life Shawshank in the Adirondacks
In the early morning hours of June 6, 2015, two convicted murderers vanished from the maximum-security Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora, New York, launching one of the most infamous manhunts in modern American history.
Keep reading for a complete breakdown on the inmates behind the escape, their accomplices, the escape itself, and the aftermath. At the end, we wrap up with a few fun facts!
The Cornerstone of a Small Community
Clinton Correctional Facility has been a bedrock of the small Adirondack community of Dannemora for many years. The prison was established in 1845, making it one of the oldest and largest maximum security facilities in the state.
For generations, it has been a major employer in the North Country region, with many families in the area relying on stable jobs at the prison.
Beyond employment, the facility has also long influenced the local economy and identity. Even in light of the 2015 escape, the community largely rallied around the institution, cementing its continuing significance.
David Sweat: From Troubled Youth to Convicted Murderer
David Sweat’s early life was marked by a neglectful mother and absent father that led to severe behavioral problems. By age 9, he was bringing knives to school.
As a teenager, he committed a series of burglaries, and also locked a woman in a closet at a group home in Binghamton, where he then proceeded to steal computers and cash. He and his accomplice were sentenced to 5 years of Intensive Supervision Probation.
Sweat and his cousin of the same age, Jeffrey Nabinger, Jr., became partners in crime around 1997. They didn’t have jobs other than dealing marijuana, and were homeless at times. Sweat was convicted of a second degree burglary and sentenced to 2 to 4 years, of which he served 19 months. At some point, he fathered a child, which has largely been left out of news reports.
The crime that landed him at Clinton took place close to 4am on July 4, 2002. Sweat, Nabinger, and a third man, Shawn Devaul, robbed a store just over the border in Pennsylvania that sold guns and fireworks.
They drove a stolen truck with the goods to a parking area near a baseball diamond in Kirkwood, New York. Here, the trio began to transfer the weapons into Sweat’s car. Broome County Sheriff Deputy Kevin J. Tarisa, on patrol, came upon them and approached.
Sweat fired a gun at the cop several times, missing a few, but then hitting his body armor, knocking him off his feet. Sweat then ran him over with his car, but Tarisa was still alive. Nabinger picked up Tarisa’s gun and shot him twice in the head. It was the first police officer death in the county since the force was established in the 1800s.
Sweat and Nabinger pleaded guilty to avoid the death penalty; the death penalty was abolished in New York State two years later in 2004. They each received life sentences without the possibility of parole. Devaul served 3 years for criminal possession of a weapon.
Sweat was moved to Clinton in the fall of 2002.
Richard Matt: A Life of Violence & Incarceration
Having been abandoned in a car as an infant, Richard Matt’s troubles started early. He spent much of his youth in foster care and detention facilities. His first escape occurred at age 19 from Erie County Correctional Facility, where he scaled a wall topped with razor wire.
He had many run-ins with the law over the years, including agreeing to murder three people in exchange for bail money in 1991, which he backed out of once free.
In 1997, alongside accomplice Lee Eugene Bates, Matt abducted and tortured his former boss, William Rickerson. They believed the man had $100,000 in his home, which proved false. They shoved him into the trunk of a car and drove across New York and Pennsylvania to Ohio and back, occasionally stopping to beat and torment him.
Eventually, Matt killed Rickerson near Silver Creek, New York, breaking his neck, and then later dismembering his body with a hacksaw. He dumped the remains into the Niagara River.
After fleeing to Mexico, Matt stabbed a man in a public restroom in 1998. After serving time in a Mexican prison, he was extradited to the US in 2007. He was sentenced to 25 years to life for the kidnapping, torture, and murder of Rickerson.
Matt was moved to Clinton in 2008.
The Path to Escape
Matt and Sweat both lived on Clinton’s Honor Block in 2013 and worked in the same prison tailor shop. Both were considered model inmates. But beneath the surface, they starting to plot.
Joyce Mitchell, a civilian employee who supervised the shop, grew close to both men, especially Sweat. She began smuggling in contraband for the pair as early as February of 2015: hacksaw blades, chisels, food, and even lighted glasses to help them navigate the dark tunnels beneath the prison. She also allegedly gave nude photos of herself to Matt. In April of 2015 she started smuggling in the items they’d need once they were on the run, with plans to join them.
Mitchell’s husband, Lyle, also worked at the prison. The trio allegedly devised a plan to drug and kill Lyle the night of the escape, clearing the way for their getaway. They were aiming for Mexico.
Over 133 days, the two men meticulously cut holes in the backs of their cells, gaining access to hidden catwalks, tunnels, and steam pipes. Their undoubtedly noisy work was disguised during nightly recreation hours, when other inmates were watching TV or playing games. Sweat, by his later account, did most of the physical labor.
A second, lesser accomplice to the plan in addition to Mitchell was corrections officer Gene Palmer, who unknowingly aided the escape by delivering meat containing tools to the inmates - meat prepared by Mitchell.
In general, Palmer was reportedly too friendly with inmates, almost like he forgot that they were criminals. He didn’t always properly frisk them when he was supposed to, or have them walk through metal detectors. Security failures like these helped Sweat and Matt enormously.
Tunnel inspections had been discontinued in the mid 1990s, due to cost-cutting measures. New job descriptions failed to specifically assign inspecting the tunnels to any one person; it had previously been the routine part of a designated officer’s job. Even the manhole they eventually exited through was within view of unmanned guard towers.
Clinton administrators had in fact recognized no one was inspecting tunnels, and had put a new policy in place, but it did not take effect in time to discover the evidence of the escape attempt in progress.
At this time, Mitchell was under scrutiny for performance issues, including dressing inappropriately at work, openly flirting with and sharing personal information with inmates, and she was even seen bringing them some of the contraband like baked goods. But, a hiring freeze made it impossible to hire someone new, and the tailor shop had a quota to make, so these issues were overlooked.
Another tragic misstep: On May 31, there was a “violent disturbance” at the prison, with 35 to 40 inmates getting into a brawl in the recreation yard. Tear gas had to be used to restore order. Clinton asked leadership in Albany for permission to instigate a lockdown, knowing that incidents like these are typically the precursor of more to come. They were turned down, as lockdown requires overtime, which requires more money.
The Escape
A low pressure steam pipe brought Sweat and Matt to the prison’s perimeter wall - this was their way out. From mid-May to June 4 they worked in sweltering heat chipping away at this concrete wall.
Once beyond the wall, there was the manhole they chose to escape out of. The cover was chained to the ladder with a padlock they had to break. Sweat did a solo run the night before the escape, and actually made it outside.
Their plan came to fruition on the night of June 5, 2015. Matt left a note in his cell: “You left me no choice but to grow old & die in here. I had to do something! 6-5-15.” The two also left behind a taunting cartoon of an Asian man with the words “Have a nice day!”
Mitchell was supposed to meet them at midnight. Matt and Sweat made their final descent through the steam tunnels, navigating a maze of pipes and emerging through the manhole cover. They were outside the prison walls, free.
But Mitchell never showed. She’d instead gone to dinner with her husband, then checked herself into a hospital with panic attack symptoms. The men were now fugitives on the run alone.
Corrections Officer Ronald Blair discovered the pair missing at 5:17am on June 6. They’d each bunched up bedding and clothes to make it look like they were in their beds, but Blair ordered Sweat to move, and he didn’t, and Matt’s absence was revealed right after. This was the beginning of something major.
The Days After & the Ensuing Manhunt
The entire prison was searched. The remaining 2,600 inmates were put on lockdown, not allowed to leave their cells, even for meals or medical attention. Jobs that were typically done by inmates were taken care of by officers.
Andrew Cuomo, governor at the time, and his Acting Department of Corrections and Community Supervision Commissioner Anthony Annucci, abandoned their plans to attend the Belmont Stakes (American Pharoah famously won the Triple Crown that day), to go for a prison tour and a news conference. This was on June 6.
Mitchell knew the police were looking for her, and came to them first. At first, she claimed not to know anything, but when they showed up at her house on June 7 to continue questioning, after about an hour into the interrogation she admitted to smuggling escape tools into the prison.
In the days and weeks that followed, roadblocks were set up, tracking dogs released, and air support unleashed. About 200 searchers were deployed on that first day. Forest rangers were put to work. Response teams searched woods. Checkpoints were put up on roadways.
The Clinton community truly came together at this time, with the public doing their part by turning on outdoor lights at night, locking doors and windows, and handing over any surveillance videos.
While on the run, Matt and Sweat, who were expecting to be in a car and not in the Adirondack wilderness, broke into camps to make use of food, supplies, and even cannabis and alcohol. Sweat was more resourceful than Matt, who, for example, forgot to bring his brand new boots on the excursion, leaving them behind in his cell. Sweat was better about abstaining from alcohol and keeping his wits about him. The Mexico plan long abandoned, the two had Canada in their sights.
John Stockwell, “Stumpy,” a corrections officer, checked on his hunting camp with his dog Dolly on June 20. He proceeded up to the camp in an ATV, and the dog alerted him that someone was there, which inevitably turned out to be the inmates. Unfortunately, they got away, and there was no cell service in that area for Stockwell to call for help.
Matt, who’d had problems with alcohol on the outside, quickly went downhill with access to liquor. His being drunk brought down the mood, slowed the pair down, and Matt was even reportedly suicidal at times. He also talked about hijacking a car. Sweat didn’t think they should.
At one point, a white SUV with police lights stopped on Webster Street in Malone, where the pair were at the time. Matt stumbled backwards, making some noise while doing so, and Sweat saw the opportunity to ditch his partner and ran away. They never saw each other again.
An End to the Escape
Matt was shot and killed by US Border Patrol and former Army Ranger Christopher Voss on June 26 in Malone. Drunk, Matt had aimed a semi automatic rifle he’d stolen at law enforcement. A later investigation determined that Voss was justified in shooting and killing. Voss was not alone; there were many officers present.
Sweat was shot, although not to death, on June 28 in Constable, about a mile from the Canadian border, by State Police Sergeant Jay Cook, who was alone. Cook saw Sweat walking along a road and ordered him to stop. Sweat fled, and was shot twice in the torso, puncturing his lung.
From there, Sweat was transported to Alice Hyde Medical Center in Malone, and then Albany Medical Center. His next stop, on July 5, was to a Special Housing Unit (SHU) at Five Points Correctional Facility in Romulus. He reportedly spent roughly the next two years in solitary confinement.
The Fallout & Aftermath
All in all, the escape launched a massive, weeks-long manhunt involving over 1,500 law enforcement officers and costing $23 million dollars - about $1 million a day for each day they were out.
Sweat faced additional charges and an extended sentence following the escape - an additional 3 1/2 to 7 years. He was already serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole, but the powers that be wanted to send a message that if you commit a crime you will be prosecuted accordingly, period. He was fined $5,000 and ordered to pay $79,841 in restitution for the damages caused during the escape.
Mitchell was charged, pled guilty, and convicted for her role in the escape, and was consequently sentenced to 2 1/3 to 7 seven years, of which she served 4 years and 2 months. She was fined $6,000 in addition to a $375 courtroom surcharge.
Palmer, despite being found not to know anything about the escape, also suffered for his small role. He was charged, pled guilty, convicted, and sentenced to 6 months in prison, of which he served 4. He was fined $5,000.
Naturally, stricter policies were put in place at Clinton regarding security checks and staff conduct following the escape.
The escape inspired national media coverage, the television series Escape at Dannemora, the documentary We Stand Corrected: Dannemora, and four books: Escape From Dannemora: Richard Matt, David Sweat, and the Great Adirondack Manhunt by Michael Benson; Two Escaped Killers, Three Weeks of Terror, and the Largest Manhunt Ever in New York State by Charles A. Gardner; Wild Escape by Chelsia Rose Marcius; and He’s Out! The True Story of Infamous Prison Escapee Richard Matt as Told by His Daughter by Jamie Scalise with Bob DiCesare.
Interesting & Fun Facts
Both men had a birthday while on the run - Sweat turned 35 on June 14, and Matt turned 49 on June 25.
The series Escape at Dannemora was filmed in the Adirondacks. When Lyle Mitchell goes to the restaurant to make a dinner reservation for his anniversary, that is actually OP Fredericks in Chestertown.
The real Lyle Mitchell stuck by his wife during her prison term, and they are still together.
Matt was an incredibly talented painter and artist, with a flair for portraits.
In Matt’s daughter’s book, she says her father maintained an odd optimism with regards to getting out of prison, despite serving a 25 to life sentence. Although she wasn’t in contact with him her entire life, she had visited him at Clinton about half a dozen times. And he did, in fact, get out of prison, while his accomplice continues to serve out his sentence to this day.
Sources:
- Escape From Dannemora: Richard Matt, David Sweat, and the Great Adirondack Manhunt by Michael Benson
- Two Escaped Killers, Three Weeks of Terror, and the Largest Manhunt Ever in New York State by Charles A. Gardner
- Wild Escape by Chelsia Rose Marcius
- He’s Out! The True Story of Infamous Prison Escapee Richard Matt as Told by His Daughter by Jamie Scalise with Bob DiCesare
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