Joyce Mitchell gets up to 7 years in prison for aiding N.Y. escapees
ALBANY – Joyce Mitchell, the prison worker who aided the escape of two inmates at an upstate New York prison, was sentenced Monday to 2 1/3 to seven years in prison.
Sobbing throughout the court appearance, Mitchell begged Judge Kevin Ryan for forgiveness, saying she never intended to cause anyone harm in the remarkable June 6 escape.
She pleaded guilty July 28 to two charges in connection with her efforts to help Richard Matt and David Sweat escape from the state prison in Dannemora near the Canadian border.
“If I could take it all back I would,” Mitchell said, reading a two-page handwritten note on yellow paper. She added: “I am still trying to acknowledge my actions and understand why I did what I did.”
The escape led to a three-week manhunt through the Adirondacks that ended with Matt being shot and killed and Sweat being captured.
Mitchell, 52, received the agreed upon sentence as part of her plea deal. She had a intimate relationship with Matt and sneaked hacksaw blades and other tools to them to help their stunning escape through thick walls and metal pipes.
Mitchell was expected to be the escapees getaway driver, but she said she expected the inmates, both convicted murderers, would kill her if she showed up with a car on that fateful June 6 morning.
“They would have had the vehicle. They wouldn’t have needed me,” Mitchell said in a teary-eyed interview with NBC “Today” host Matt Lauer that aired Sept. 18. “I had no intention of ever showing up.”
Matt was shot and killed by police, and Sweat was later captured. Sweat has been charged with escaping from the Clinton Correctional Facility.
Mitchell said she was afraid to stop aiding the men’s escape, which included a plot to give her husband pills to drug him and ultimately have the murderers kill him.
“I knew I was in so far that I had to just keep going along with it,” Mitchell said. “So when Mr. Matt brought me the pills, they were in my drawer at work. And I took ’em home and I flushed ’em.”
Ryan, however, scolded Mitchell, saying her story is not credible. He said she could have told authorities about the escape plans and protected her family.
“At any time you could have stopped the escape from happening,” Ryan said.
The state is seeking restitution from Mitchell for part of the extraordinary costs associated with the escape. A hearing is set in November to consider what Mitchell may have to pay. She was hit with a $6,000 fine on Monday associated with the charges.
Her husband, Lyle Mitchell, has stuck by his wife, and Joyce Mitchell cried in the nationally televised interview as she talked about her mistakes.
A prison guard, Gene Palmer, has been charged with allegedly slipping Matt and Sweat the tools in hamburger meat. He has pleaded not guilty to a charge of promoting prison contraband.
JSPECTOR@Gannett.com
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