We look back on the prison break at Clinton Correctional in Dannemora 10-years ago, that triggered the largest manhunt in New York State history. 2 convicted murderers, David Sweat and Richard Matt, broke out of the maximum-security prison by sawing and cutting their way out of their cells and through an elaborate maze of pipes and tunnels underneath the prison.
The two followed highways into the wilderness of Franklin County, breaking into camps & stealing food, clothes & a shotgun. When a camp owner spotted them two weeks after they escaped, the manhunt focused on the hamlets of Mountain View & Owls Head.
Matt was shot and killed by a federal border patrol agent a week later, and then Sweat was shot and wounded by state police sergeant Jay Cook in a field in the town of Constable about a mile and a half from the Canadian border.
The State Inspector General’s office put out a scathing report detailing the breakdown in security that allowed the two killers to carry out the escape.
Retired New York State Police Major Charles Guess, the Troop B commander who headed up the three-week manhunt, joined us this week from Arizona to talk about the 3-week manhunt.
Guess was also hired-on as a consultant by Director Ben Still for his Showtime mini-series.
On our website & YouTube channel, look for some of the stories we did about the prison break, the manhunt & the Showtime series Ben Stiller did on the escape that came out in 2018.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KIIRo-rpRH8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dO_ju57Xrrc