David Sweat, the New York prison escapee who led authorities on a three-week chase before being recaptured, was indicted at his first court appearance Monday.
Sweat, 35, and another inmate, 49-year-old Richard W. Matt — both convicted murderers — escaped from the Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora, New York, either late June 5 or
early June 6, The New York Times reported. It was discovered they had inside help from Joyce E. Mitchell, a civilian who worked in the prison tailor shop. She is currently facing charges.
The two men split up after their escape, and Matt was killed during an attempt to recapture him. Sweat was captured on June 28 and shot twice. After recovering from his wounds, he appeared in court where he was charged with two first-degree counts of escape and one of promoting prison contraband, The Times said. He did not enter a plea Monday.
The escape of the two men from the maximum-security prison launched a manhunt that spanned much of the New York Adirondacks and utilized more than 1,000 law enforcement personnel. The search spawned fear in residents who call northern New York their home, and the saga drew interest from across the country.
Even as the men remained at large, plans were in the works to make a Hollywood movie of the incident, and many online referenced “The Shawshank Redemption” and parallels with the escape.
"But while [Tim] Robbins' character Andy Dufresne was a wrongfully convicted man with a sympathetic story, it's hard to imagine redeeming qualities for the
two escapees," wrote Syracuse.com of the movie. "Sweat was serving a life sentence for shooting a sheriff's deputy 15 times and Matt was behind bars for kidnapping, murdering, and dismembering a man who had fired him from his job at a food warehouse."
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