The State of New York is currently involved in an ongoing manhunt as just one day ago, two men convicted of murder managed to escape a maximum security prison by cutting through both steel wall and pipe. David Sweat, 34, and Richard Matt, 48, were serving life sentences in upstate New York’s Clinton Correctional Facility when it was discovered they had managed to escape prior to a 5:45 a.m. bed check on Saturday.
As authorities scrambled to detach search parties in the vicinity of the prison, seasoned investigators followed the path used by the convicts in order to make their escape. New York’s Governor Andrew Cuomo described their route to the press as “elaborate.” While the Governor called for the assistance of the public in this manhunt, he reminded reporters that, “These are dangerous people and they are nothing to be trifled with."
Cuomo’s office released images of the scene where the two inmates are supposed to have used their adjoined cells in a joint effort to expedite the getaway. These photos document the steps both men traveled on their way to freedom. The final photo displays a taunting note left by the criminals as they drilled into their final sewage pipe. On a yellow Post-It, they left behind, “Have A Nice Day!”
Acting state corrections commissioner, Anthony Annuci, said the convicts managed to cut their way through a steel wall that connected the two cells, descend a four-story catwalk located in the prison’s skeleton, where they then cut through multiple pipes, eventually making their way to freedom via a nearby manhole cover. While one is tempted to make a comparison to the heroic plight of Andy Dufresne in the cinema classic, “The Shawshank Redemption,” we must remind ourselves that both felons were serving hard time for brutal murders. Sweat, a cop killer, and Matt, a multiple offender. To think these two managed to execute such an elaborate plan successfully leads some to believe they were aided by individuals on the outside.
Investigators believe the inmates used power tools, as apparent in the above photo’s pristine incision into hard metal. The tools were possibly stolen from outside contractors, or smuggled in, unbeknownst to prison guards -- the main reason being a subsequent inventory found no tools missing from Clinton Correctional Facility.
In another twist of irony, the annual Escape from Alcatraz Triathlon is underway in San Francisco as athletes brave the frigid Bay Area water in a re-creation of the infamous 1962 escape which, to this day, remains unsolved. Clinton Correctional Facility is situated just under 30 miles from the Canadian border. This seems to be most likely route the inmates will take in their quest for freedom. The Associated Press reports that local and federal officials are building roadblocks along all nearby traffic ways, and bloodhounds and helicopters are aiding the search to return the escapees behind bars.
Will these men fade into history like the infamous Alcatraz escapees who beat the odds 53 years ago? Or will modern technology prove to be the undoing of the convicts as they fight for survival? Only time will tell.
