Convicted Murderers Manage 'Extraordinary' Prison Break In New York

By Scott Neuman / NPR

Published June 7, 2015 at 5:03 AM PDT

This story was published more than 8 years ago.

This photo provided by New York State Governor's office shows the area where two convicted murderers used power tools to cut through steel pipes at a maximum-security prison in Dannemora, New York.

David Sweat, who escaped along with Richard Matt on Saturda from the Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora, New York.

Richard Matt, who escaped along with David Sweat on Saturday.

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This photo provided by New York State Governor's office shows the taunting note left by two escapees.

In a prison-break likely to draw comparisons to the film The Shawshank Redemption, two convicted murderers have escaped from a maximum-security facility in upstate New York by cutting through steel walls, shimmying through a steam pipe and emerging from a manhole on the outside.

Inmates Richard Matt and David Sweat broke out of the Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora, near the Canadian border, early Saturday morning.

"There was a hole cut out of the back of their cell through which these inmates escaped ... and had power tools and were able to get out through this facility through tunnels, cutting their way in several spots," New York Corrections Commissioner Anthony Annucci told reporters.

Brian Mann of North Country Public Radio reports: "Without being noticed, [Matt and Sweat] used those power tools to cut through a steel wall and also to carve holes in a steam pipe that they squeezed through to reach a manhole cover on a nearby street." In a move reminiscent of the infamous 1962 Alcatraz break, the inmates left dummies in their cots to fool guards, who conducted "bed checks" every two hours. The two were not discovered missing until 6 a.m. Saturday.

NCPR's Mann has a step-by-step look – complete with photos – on how the break out went down here.

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Matt was convicted of beating a man to death in 1997. Sweat murdered a sheriff in 2002. "We are putting on the full court press and our chief concern is the safety of the community and the citizens of New York," said Police Maj. Charles Guess, who is leading the manhunt.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who was shown the maze-like route the two inmates took, remarked: "When you look at how it was done, it was extraordinary," he said. "You look at the precision of the operation, it was truly extraordinary ... it was elaborate, it was sophisticated. So this was not easily accomplished."

Cuomo said "one of the big questions is, where did the tools come from?"

Another question might be why the guards didn't hear them cutting through steel walls.