Search for fugitives from a New York prison has cost the US 23 million dollars

In addition to police, federal marshals, FBI officers and helicopter crews, locals also took part in the search for fugitives - more than a thousand people were involved in the operation. The operation turned out to be one of the largest in the modern history of the United States, with at least 23 million dollars spent, that is, a million for each day of searching.

Course to Mexico

On the original plan of the criminals said on Monday, June 29, New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo. Matt (sentenced to 25 years for killing and dismembering the chief) and Sweat (serving a life sentence for killing a police officer) spent more than a year preparing to escape from the New York prison.

The accomplices during this time studied in detail the structure of the ventilation sections of the Clinton prison and found assistants among the staff. Joycey Mitchell, a 51-year-old prison worker, often spoke with Matt 49-year-old and, according to some sources, fell in love with a criminal. One of Mitchell's colleagues drew attention to the non-statutory relations and complained to the authorities, but the case was not given a turn - there was not enough evidence.

Mitchell bought the tools to escape, and handed them to the criminals another accomplice - guard Jean Palmer. Bypassing the metal detector, he carried a package with a piece of meat to the criminals, in which Mitchell hid the tools. According to the prosecution, Palmer did not know what helped to escape. Both Palmer and Mitchell are arrested and charged.

According to the original plan, the criminals had to use the tools to do the laze cells, on the night of June 6, get out of the prison through the ventilation holes and go to Mexico by Joycee Mitchell's car. However, they did not find Mitchell at the appointed place - at the last moment the woman was frightened. According to Mitchell, the idea of ​​helping the fugitives stopped appearing attractive to her after she found out that they were going to kill her husband.

Backup plan

Not finding an accomplice, Matt and Sweat decided to head for the border with Canada, which runs 30 kilometers north of the prison. In the vicinity, by that time, the search for those who had fled had already begun, and for information about the criminals they announced a reward in the amount of 50 thousand dollars.

For more than three weeks at large, the fugitives retreated from prison just 50 kilometers away, but their search was delayed because of the hard-to-reach wooded area in upstate New York. They entered the forests almost immediately - dogs did not help much in such conditions.

24 June fugitives divided. According to investigators, his older companion braked 35-year-old Svat, who could not move quickly due to illness. Matt sat down in a hunting lodge in the middle of nowhere. His location was established by the tracks left in other shelters, and thanks to the testimony of local hunters.

When Matt was discovered, he was holding a weapon and refused to surrender. The man received three fatal injuries to the head, none of the policemen was injured. The forensic medical examination established that the fugitive was drunk and seriously ill due to a long stay in the forest.

Two days later, they found the second fugitive, David Sweat, located just three kilometers from the border with Canada. The criminal was detained not by a special search patrol, but by a police sergeant who noticed the criminal on a rural road. Sweat did not obey the order to stop and tried to escape, so the police officer had to open fire. The fugitive was hospitalized with two gunshot wounds to the body. With him, Svat didn’t have a weapon, his backpack was packed with cards, food and pepper - in order to knock the dogs off the trail.

The escape of David Swat and Richard Matt was the first in more than 150-year history of the Clinton high-security prison.