Prison Worker Smuggled Escape Tools In Ground Beef
In news that gives new meaning to hamburger helper, prison worker Joyce Mitchell smuggled tools to convicted murderers Richard Matt and David Sweat using a method that might surprise readers. Mitchell smuggled the tools that Matt and Sweat used to escape into the prison in ground beef.
On Tuesday,Clinton County D.A. Andrew Wylie told the press that prison worker Joyce Mitchell, who has been charged with aiding the breakout, put the meat in a tailor shop refrigerator at the Clinton Correctional Facility and that a guard named Gene Palmer then gave the hamburger to the prisoners plotting their escape. Matt and Sweat were housed in the ironically named “honor block,” which allowed prisoners to cook their own meals.
Prison worker reportedly smuggled escaped New York convicts tools in frozen hamburger meat http://t.co/FKkSETJvRT pic.twitter.com/rVIM7A6E7K
— Fox News (@FoxNews) June 23, 2015
As of this post, the two prisoners remain on the run, and are thought to be somewhere in the Adirondack Mountains. Authorities by the hundreds are on the hunt, but Pat Patten, an expert on rounding up fugitives, believes that without a set plan and the correct equipment, the prisoners won’t get far.
“They can disappear very easily but to survive is another story, and that’s really predicated on their plan and their equipment and, of course, their abilities.”
Don't blame Mrs. Mitchell, blame the meat. #HamburgerHelper "Prison Worker Smuggled Tools in Hamburger Meat, DA Says" http://t.co/Xzvo4kh4NF
— Kevin Putz ??????? (@kevputz) June 24, 2015
To aid their escape, prison worker Mitchell inserted hack saw blades, drill bits, and a hole punch into the ground beef. The two prisoners burrowed out of the maximum security prison in Dannemora, New York on June 6th.
In addition to Mitchell, prison worker Gene Palmer is also under investigation, though he has not yet been charged. Palmer has passed a polygraph test and was placed on administrative leave. Prison worker Mitchell has stated that she did not believe that Palmer knew what was hidden in the ground beef.
Though Mitchell has pleaded not guilty, she has come clean about a number of details surrounding the prison break. Mitchell has said that she had planned to drive both Matt and Sweat to freedom, but she got cold feet. The prison worker also told authorities about a murder for hire plot where the prisoners would kill her husband, Lyle Mitchell.
In the wake of the prison break, a cabin was broken into in the town of Owls Head, and the DNA of both men was found. The evidence included a pair of underwear worn by one of the men. It has been over two weeks since the escape, and prior to this find, authorities feared that the trial had gone cold.
Do you think it was creative or crazy for the prison worker to hide tools in hamburger?
[Photos courtesy of CBS and NBC]
