How Two Prisoners Escaped From A Maximum Security Prison

What Is Known About How They Escaped

The account below is based on statements from the office of Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo and other officials.

First, the inmates cut neat rectangular holes in the steel at the backs of their cells. They fashioned dummies from sweatshirts and stuffed their beds to thwart discovery during regular cell checks by guards.

The inmates, both serving long sentences for murder, had adjoining cells – Cells 23 and 24 – in Cellblock A, which sits four stories above ground. The holes cut into the wall of their cells can be seen from the catwalk. The men climbed five stories down between the wall and the catwalk to one level underground. The catwalk had not been regularly patrolled by guards for years.

The prisoners cut a hole in a 24-inch steam pipe. With the heat turned off, the pipe was cool enough for the men to crawl through when they made their escape in early June.

They left a taunting note that included a racist caricature …

… and crawled through the pipe to a manhole about 400 feet beyond the prison walls, cutting through a steel lock and chain to open it. The men were carrying clothes and tools in a soft guitar case, according to investigators.

A trooper who was supervising part of a perimeter of officers that had been moving south from the Canadian border stopped a man walking on Coveytown Road, and quickly realized it was Mr. Sweat, officials said. When the fugitive ran across a field heading for a dense tree line, the officer fired, striking Mr. Sweat twice. He was taken to the hospital in Malone and later transported to Albany. Residents at 517 Coveytown Road said the shooting happened in a 30 acre-field of recently mown hay next to their home.