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Summary: In a story that shocked the nation, Joyce Mitchell helped two inmates escape from a New York prison. In her confession, she details the plans of the escape, as well as sexual encounters with one of the inmates.
CNN Reports that Joyce Mitchell, a former Clinton Correctional Facility employee, has confessed to having an inappropriate relationship with Richard Matt, an inmate, and how she brought tools into the New York prison that the pair used to escape.
According to the Washington Post, Mitchell’s relationship with the prisoners started with innocent flirting, and evolved into a Hollywood-style escape plan, including a plot to kill her husband. Now, Mitchell faces 27 months to seven years in prison for her role in the inmates’ escape. Sweat was apprehended by police, but Matt was shot and killed by law enforcement officers.
Read about the charges against Mitchell here.
The following are ten of the revelations in Mitchell’s confession.
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Mitchell ran the tailor shop at the prison. David Sweat and Richard Matt were assigned jobs in the tailor shop, and that’s where the three initially met.
Mitchell said, “Sweat was a good worker and was always very nice to me. We became close but never had a physical relationship…” She added, “Inmate Sweat was really close to inmate Matt. They were always together and shared everything. Inmate Matt and I got along well. We talked every day and he treated me with respect and was nice to me. He made me feel special.”
Matt later asked Mitchell to contact his daughter, and she did, on more than one occasion. Matt was known in the prison for his art, and he asked Mitchell to call his daughter to be sure she received one of his paintings.
Mitchell recalled, “I know it was wrong, but I called his daughter, Jamie, and told her who I was and that I was not supposed to be doing this, but I was doing this as a favor for her father. She asked me to let him know she got the paintings and was doing fine. After that, whenever he wanted me to contact his daughter, I would text her. We mostly talked about the paintings or how Inmate Matt would complain about his back being sore.”
Mitchell even asked Matt to paint a portrait of her kids as an anniversary gift for her husband, Lyle. She agreed to buy him some speed bag boxing gloves and two pairs of glasses with lights on them in exchange for the painting. Matt told Mitchell that he and Sweat would be painting at night.
Mitchell never received the painting. However, she kept bringing items to Matt, such as cookies, brownies, pepper, and other edible items.
David Sweat detailed his escape plan earlier this month.
In April, he was sexually violent toward Mitchell. She said, “Matt grabbed me and kissed me. It started me…I didn’t say anything because I was scared for my husband, who also works in the facility.” Matt forced Mitchell to perform oral sex on him, and he forced her to touch his penis.
According to CBS News, Mitchell also took “naked photos” of herself for Matt to give to Sweat.
Mitchell eventually realized that the inmates were digging a hole, but continued to supply them with tools. Mitchell said, “He initially told me it was for making frames, but I later found out that (Sweat and Matt) had cut a hole in the wall and were going down into the pipes. Sometime around this time, I also bought them batteries for the glasses I had given them. I found out about the hole because inmate Matt was coming into work tired. I asked him about sleeping and he said he was up all night. After a couple days, he told me he and inmate Sweat had cut the holes and were going down in the pipes.”
Loading ...Mitchell was aware that Matt and Sweat were trying to break out of prison. According to Mitchell: “Inmate Matt told me they had found a tool box with power tools under the facility. They were using them to get out through the pipe system. Inmate Matt told me they were getting out and we were all going to be together. By this he meant inmate Sweat, him and I.”
Mitchell was asked to call another individual who would help arrange the inmates’ escape. Matt told Mitchell to call a number and pretend she worked at a doctor’s office, acting as though she was confirming an appointment. She would need to give the time and date. Mitchell said, “He told me they would bring me a package and I was supposed to bring it to him…. I started to call the number that night at 6:06 p.m. but got scared and hung up, before it rang.”
Last year, Charles Manson planned to get married in prison.
On the night Matt and Sweat escaped, Mitchell was asked to bring Matt a shotgun. According to the confession, “The plan was that I was going to leave my husband and meet him there and we were all going to be together. He did not say where we were going to go. He asked me to bring a shotgun that he could saw off.”
Part of the plan included Mitchell slipping her husband pills. The confession reads, “The day they (Sweat and Matt) were supposed to escape I was supposed to give my husband, Lyle, 2 pills. These pills were intended to knock Lyle out so I could leave the house.”
Matt planned to kill Mitchell’s husband. In her statement, Mitchell said, “After I picked them up, the plan was to drive to my home …” for Matt to “kill ‘the glitch.’” Matt called Mitchell’s husband “the glitch.”
However, Mitchell had a panic attack and had to be hospitalized. Sweat and Matt escaped the prison. Guards noticed the two were missing on June 6.
Mitchell said, “I really do love my husband and he’s the reason I didn’t meet” the inmates. She said that she “enjoyed the attention” and “the thought of a different life.”
She said, “I am really sorry for what I have done.”
Source: CNN
Photo credit: NBC News
