Gene Palmer, prison guard who aided escape, released from jail

ALBANY - The state corrections officer who provided tools to a pair of inmates who escaped the Clinton Correctional Facility last year has been freed from jail.

Gene Palmer, 58, was released from the Clinton County Jail on Monday after serving four months, jail records show.

Palmer pleaded guilty last year to two counts of promoting prison contraband.

He provided the tools in frozen hamburger meat to convicted murderers David Sweat and Richard Matt, who ultimately escaped from the maximum-security prison in northern New York and led authorities on a three-week manhunt last June.

The meat, which was provided by fellow prison employee Joyce Mitchell, had hacksaw blades frozen inside. The blades were used to cut into the prison walls and into its pipe system, which led the inmates to a nearby manhole.

Palmer was originally sentenced to six months in jail, but was released two months early for good behavior.

Video from WPTZ-TV in Plattsburgh showed Palmer declining comment as he exited the jail Monday.

Earlier this month, state Inspector General Catherine Leahy Scott released a report examining the causes for the escape.

She called Palmer a "go-to guy" for prisoners and detailed how he traded favors in exchange for Sweat and Matt's artwork.