New York’s governor says two convicted murderers “had to be heard” as they cut through steel and escaped from a maximum-security prison near the U.S.-Canada border.
One of the steel pipes the convicts cut through using power tools as they made their way out of the maximum-security prison in Dannemora, N.Y. (Darren McGee/New York State Governor’s Office/Associated Press)
Gov. Andrew Cuomo told ABC’s Good Morning America that Richard Matt and David Sweat broke out of the Clinton Correctional Facility in “a really elaborate, sophisticated operation” that involved shimmying through a steam pipe.
The men were reported missing from their beds at about 5:30 a.m. Saturday.
Roadblocks were set up in the area of the prison, about 30 kilometres south of the U.S.-Canada border between New York state and Quebec.
The Clinton Correctional Facility, above, is about 30 kilometres south of the U.S.-Canada border. (Gabe Dickens/Press-Republican/Associated Press)
Hundreds of law enforcement officers, including from the FBI and the U.S. Marshals Service, searched through the night for two convicted murderers, and bloodhounds and helicopters were being used to track them down.
Cuomo said officials were reaching out to the families of the men’s victims.
Officials said it was the first escape from the maximum-security portion of the prison, which was built in 1865.
CTV News reported that officials were concerned the men may attempt to enter Canada through Ontario or Quebec, and safety alerts were broadcast to police officers in the Greater Toronto Area.
Serving time for killing sheriff’s deputy, former boss
Sweat, 34, is serving a sentence of life without parole after he was convicted of first-degree murder for killing a sheriff’s deputy in July 2002. Matt, 48, is serving a sentence of 25 years to life for the kidnapping, dismemberment and killing of his former boss in 1997. He was returned to the U.S. from Mexico, where he had fled to and later was arrested for fatally stabbing another American outside a bar in a robbery attempt.
As they were cutting and tunnelling their way out of the prison, the convicts took time to leave a note behind. (Darren McGee/New York State Governor’s Office/Associated Press)
The two men’s adjoining cells were empty during a morning check, said Anthony Annuci, the acting state corrections commissioner.
“A search revealed that there was a hole cut out of the back of the cell through which these inmates escaped,” Annucci said. “They went onto a catwalk which is about six stories high. We estimate they climbed down and had power tools and were able to get out to this facility through tunnels, cutting away at several spots.”
Investigators were looking into how the men acquired the tools, and whether any were missing from contractors at the prison.
