The wayward wife accused of helping her prison paramours bust out of the Clinton Correctional Facility was back behind bars Friday — only this time she was wearing handcuffs and sitting in the county jail.
Joyce Mitchell was formally arrested for supplying “contraband” and helping cell block squeezes Richard Matt and David Sweat escape the forbidding prison a week ago.
The 51-year-old married mom was booked at the Clinton County Jail in Plattsburgh, N.Y.
Mitchell, who was a supervisor in the prison tailor shop where Matt and Sweat worked, was awaiting arraignment on charges of first-degree promoting prison contraband, a class D felony, and fourth-degree criminal facilitation, a class A misdemeanor.
“This is one large piece of the puzzle in the search” for Matt and Sweat, said Maj. Charles Guess of the New York State Police. “Our interviews with Joyce Mitchell have been fruitful and productive.”
Conviction on both counts could send Mitchell to jail for up to seven years, Clinton County District Attorney Andrew Wylie said.
Not in custody was Mitchell’s husband Lyle, who is also suspected of aiding in last Saturday’s dramatic escape from the Big House in Dannemora.
Lyle Mitchell has not been arrested, said Guess, who declined to discuss a State Police document obtained by several news outlets which said that he “may have assisted with the escape.”
The fast-moving developments came as hundreds of cops spent a seventh day searching without luck for Matt and Sweat, this time around Saranac, N.Y.
“We have no reason to believe they are not together,” said Guess, who added that they believe the pair are still in the area. “There have been no confirmed sightings.”
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SOURCE: NY Daily News, Keldy Ortiz, Meg Wagner, and Corky Siemaszko
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