Prison worker denied parole in scathing report

ALBANY - The prison worker who aided the escape of two convicted killers in 2015 was denied parole Monday, with the parole board blasting her for her role in the caper.

Joyce Mitchell, 52, was sentenced in September 2015 to 2⅓ to seven years in prison for helping David Sweat and Richard Matt escape from the Clinton Correctional Facility near the Canadian border.

In her first bid for parole this month, the state Parole Board ripped her attempt to be freed after Sweat and Matt — whom Mitchell became close with — led authorities on a dangerous three-week manhunt through the Adirondacks.

"You allowed your common sense and supervisory duties to be compromised by developing unprofessional relationships with Matt and Sweat," the Parole Board wrote Monday.

"You did not tell anyone of escape-related requests or plans as events were occurring and offered reasons for not doing so that neither (sentencing) Judge (Kevin) Ryan nor the board found credible."

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Mitchell pleaded guilty in 2015 and admitted to having an intimate relationship with Matt. She sneaked hacksaw blades and other tools to the inmates, allowing them to cut through walls and pipes at the maximum-security prison.

“If I could take it all back, I would,” Mitchell said during her sentencing.

Mitchell is being housed at the Bedford Hills Correctional Facility in Westchester County.

The Parole Board noted that Mitchell has had good conduct in prison and received letters in support of her release from her husband and family.

But the board said her release would be "incompatible with the welfare of society and that there is a reasonable probability that you would not live and remain at liberty without again violating the law."

The escape garnered national attention as thousands of officers swarmed the area looking for the men. Ultimately, Matt was shot and killed, and Sweat was captured.

Mitchell's conditional release date is set for February 2020. She is up for parole again in June.

Clinton County District Attorney Andrew Wylie said Mitchell should serve the maximum sentence.

"Her careless actions endangered law enforcement officers and potentially every person in the state of New York and surrounding areas," Wylie said in a statement.