The two murderers who escaped from a New York prison last weekend are proving to be exceptional, and not in a good way.
As of Wednesday morning, Richard Matt, 48, and David Sweat, 34, have been missing for four days after using power tools to pull off an elaborate escape from the maximum-security portion of the Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora, N.Y., about 20 miles south of the Canadian border.
New York prison-escape data show why their circuitous escape_they traveled through a series of walls, a steel plate, tunnels and pipes below the prison_has been extremely unusual.
Between 2002 and 2012, of the 29 inmates who escaped from New York state prisons, none of the escapees lasted longer than three days before being recaptured, according to data compiled by the New York Department of Corrections and Community Supervision.
In fact, almost all escapees are caught within 24 hours.
The escape by Matt and Sweat has concerned New York state officials enough to offer $50,000 rewards for information leading to the arrest of each man. On Wednesday, state police officials announced that 50 digital billboards in a four-state area would broadcast photos of the men's faces to speed their capture.
Of New York's previous escapees, there's no official data that say any of them burrowed out below a prison the way that Matt and Sweat did.
Only six of those 29 escapees between 2002-2012 were from maximum-security facilities, and only four had been convicted of murders like Matt and Sweat. Many simply walked away from minimum-security facilities or escaped from work details.
Escapees are also vastly more likely to be in their 20s rather than middle-aged.
Matt and Sweat's escape most closely resembles a 2003 escape from the Elmira Correctional Facility_the last time inmates were credited with escaping from inside of a maximum-security prison in New York state. In that incident, Timothy Vail, 35, and Timothy Morgan, 26, both convicted murderers, stole parts of tools to chip away at the ceiling of their cell and escape from the prison's roof by using tied-together bedsheets. Like Matt and Sweat, they left dummies in their beds to cover their tracks.
Vail and Morgan were captured a day later a couple miles from the prison. An internal investigation later blamed "complacency" by the Elmira prison's staff in securing tools and doing cell searches.
"There is little doubt that had there been strict adherence to established policy, procedure and practices, the escape would have been thwarted," Glenn S. Goord, then-commissioner of the state's prison systems, said in 2004.
On Wednesday, a state police spokeswoman declined to comment to the Los Angeles Times on reports that investigators were questioning a female prison worker on suspicion of potentially helping Matt and Sweat in their escape.
(c)2015 Los Angeles Times
