New York woman who aided prison escape to pay $80,000 restitution
By Pete DeMalo
PLATTSBURGH, N.Y. (Reuters) - A former prison worker who helped two convicted killers escape from a maximum security lockup in upstate New York earlier this year will pay nearly $80,000 in restitution to repair damage caused by the inmates in preparing for their daring breakout.
The agreement to reduce the amount from an initial $121,000 requested by the state inspector general came after “tireless review” of the damages, said Clinton County Assistant District Attorney Nick Evanovich at a restitution hearing on Friday.
Joyce Mitchell was sentenced to 2-1/3 to seven years in state prison in September after admitting to providing the escapees, Richard W. Matt and David Sweat, with blades and other tools hidden in frozen hamburger meat.
In June, the pair cut through the walls of their cells and a steam pipe to make their way to a manhole where they emerged into a street outside of Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora, about 25 miles south of the Canadian border.
At the hearing in a Plattsburgh courtroom on Friday, Mitchell was wearing tan slacks and a white shirt. She mouthed “I love you” to her husband, Lyle, who was seated in the front row. He remains on personal leave from his job at Clinton Correctional.
Mitchell attorney Steven Johnston said while case law capped restitution costs at $15,000, judges have the discretion to exceed that amount.
“They don’t know how they’re going to pay it,” said Johnston, referring to the $79,841 in restitution assessed by the court.
Joyce Mitchell earned $57,697 a year from her job as the laundry supervisor and will still be eligible for her pension.
Mitchell's earliest possible release date is Oct. 8, 2017.
After a three-week manhunt through the rugged Adirondack Mountains, Matt, 49, was fatally shot by a federal agent on June 26 about 27 miles away from the prison. Sweat, 35, was captured two days later some two miles from the Canadian border.
Sweat, who is currently being housed at Five Points Correctional Facility in Broome County, was arraigned in August on felony charges of escape and promoting prison contraband for possession of the blades. He pleaded not guilty.
(Editing by Frank McGurty and Tom Brown)
