Shackled N.Y. prison worker waives hearing; manhunt continues
The prison employee at the center of a prison escape waived her preliminary hearing in a northern New York courtroom Monday as the manhunt for two killers quietly rolled into a 10th day.
Joyce "Tillie" Mitchell, 51, wore a black-and-white-striped prison jumper, a bullet-proof vest, leg shackles and handcuffs as she trudged, head down, into Plattsburgh City Court. Mitchell waived a preliminary hearing during the brief appearance. Her case was sent to Clinton County Court.
Mitchell faces felony counts that could bring more than seven years in prison on charges that she supplied hacksaw blades and other tools to inmates Richard Matt, 48, and David Sweat, 35.
As details emerged over potential assistance given to the escapees, officials said there were no Vermont law enforcement representatives stationed at two docks for ferries connecting New York and Vermont about 19 miles from the Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora, N.Y.
Police were on patrol near the two bridges but not at the ferry terminals, Col. Tom L'Esperance, director of the Vermont State Police, told the Burlington Free Press.
"The reason the troopers were at the bridges are in case there was a pursuit out of New York," L'Esperance said. "We are not searching cars coming out of New York."
Details about prison employees also raised questions in the case.
Mitchell, a tailor shop instructor at the prison, also is accused of agreeing to be the pair's getaway driver after their escape in the early hours of June 6. Authorities say Mitchell had second thoughts and failed to follow through on a plan that might have involved a seven-hour race to freedom, possibly to a cabin hideout deep in the woods in Vermont.
Prosecutor Andrew Wylie said Mitchell told investigators she decided not to flee with the men because she loved her husband and did not want to throw her life away.
"Maybe when it was 'go time' on the day of the event she … got cold feet," Wylie said. "Maybe she said 'What am I doing?' and reality sunk in."
Wylie also has said Mitchell was previously investigated because of a complaint that she had developed too close a relationship with one of the two men. Wylie said there had been insufficient evidence to pursue that claim.
Wylie would not comment on a New York Daily News report Sunday that Matt and Sweat had "planned on killing" Mitchell's husband, Lyle, who also works in the prison tailor shop. CNN reported the alleged plot Monday. Both accounts were attributed to anonymous law enforcement sources.
"She said the plan was to pick them up and go to her house," the Daily News source said. "She didn't say that she was going to help them" kill her husband.
On Monday, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo instructed state Inspector General Catherine Leahy Scott to "conduct a thorough investigation to determine all factors potentially involved in the escape."
Cuomo said prison design, operations and security were among issues that would be scrutinized.
"Capturing these killers and returning them to state custody remains our top priority," Cuomo said. "However, it's critically important to examine the circumstances that enabled these inmates to escape in the first place."
Hundreds of federal, state and local authorities continued to comb the rural area along the borders of New York, Vermont and Canada, including U.S. Marshals who conducted house-to-house searches.
Schools around the prison reopened Monday as locals attempted to bring normalcy back to their lives.
The Saranac Central School District was open but announced an "enhanced" law enforcement presence at schools. The district suspended all outdoor activities.
It's not clear how long the area will function this way.
"We don't know if they are still in the area or if they're in Mexico by now," Cuomo said Sunday.