In 2015 Joyce Mitchell Helped Two Men Escape From Prison — Where Is She Now?
"We talked every day and he treated me with respect and was nice to me. He made me feel special."
Published Oct. 22 2024, 7:53 p.m. ET
In June 2015, two inmates escaped from Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora, N.Y. Richard Matt and David Sweat had both been convicted of murder and subsequently bonded in prison over a mutual love of art.
They even managed to convince prison guards to put them in cells next to each other. Eventually, Matt and Sweat were assigned jobs in the prison's tailor shop, which is where they met Joyce Mitchell.
Mitchell was a guard in charge of the shop who later confessed to engaging in a sexual relationship with Matt.
"We talked every day and he treated me with respect and was nice to me. He made me feel special," reported CNN. She eventually began doing favors for Matt, which included procuring padded gloves, glasses with lights on them, a screwdriver-type bit, and hacksaw blades.
Mitchell revealed she was actually part of their escape plan, but couldn't go through with it. Where is she now?
Where is Joyce Mitchell now? She spent some time in prison, but on the other side of the cell.
Over the course of three weeks, Matt and Sweat cut a hole in the rear wall of their respective cells in order to gain access to prison tunnels. They then cut out part of a steam tunnel and made their way to a manhole cover outside of the prison.
This resulted in a weeks-long manhunt that ended in Matt's death and an injured Sweat. He returned to prison and was forced to pay an $80,000 fee while getting a few more years added to his life sentence.
On the day of their escape, Mitchell was supposed to drug her husband using two pills given to her by Matt, per NBC News.
"After Lyle was asleep, I was supposed to drive to Dannemora and meet them by the powerhouse," said Mitchell. She was also supposed to bring them a change of clothes and various other supplies. The three of them were then going to head to Mitchell's house where Matt and Sweat would kill her husband. Thankfully that part never happened.
According to CNN, in September 2015 Mitchell was "sentenced up to seven years for first-degree promoting prison contraband, a felony, and a concurrent year for fourth-degree misdemeanor criminal facilitation."
She was released from Bedford Hills Correctional Facility in February 2020 and was put on supervised probation until February 2022.