The New York Escaped Prisoners
Clinton Correctional Facility

Joey Onomo
CRJ/324
Prof.Paul Noel
Personal Dilemma Paper

On June 6, 2015, two inmates at the Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora, New York were discovered missing early in the morning during a routine bed check. The inmates were identified as Richard Matt and David Sweat. Both men had been serving sentences for conviction of murder. Through law enforcement investigation, it was found that the two inmates sought out assistance from a female correctional officer at the correctional facility. It has been speculated that one of the inmates was involved in an inappropriate relationship with the correctional officer, identified as Joyce Mitchell. Mitchell provided the pair of inmates with tools including hacksaw blades, a bit and a screwdriver – concealed within frozen hamburger meat that was handed directly to the inmates by another Clinton Correctional officer.
This particular incident can be considered a normative ethical dilemma by nature due to the fact that there are a practical means of determining a moral course of action. The inmates were housed in the Honor Block, which is a privileged housing unit that allowed them to have access to cooking stations, televisions, wall mounted telephones, showers and card tables. When they were planning their escape, they presented the idea to Mitchell. From a normative standpoint, Mitchell could have weighed what courses of action to take – to either aid and abet the inmates, not participate but allow the inmates to carry out the plan or not participate in the escape and instead report the incident to her superiors. Mitchell had an opportunity to rationally deduce which response was most appropriate but due to prior misconduct – participation in a romantic relationship with an inmate – she chose one of the incorrect or immoral courses of action.
Additionally, the incident can be considered an applied ethical dilemma by nature because there was an obligation to act in a specific manner. From an applied standpoint, there was only one acceptable course of action – to report the inmates and their plan to prison management. This type of ethics distinguishes between right and wrong, thus usually only allowing for one acceptable means of dealing with an issue.
The decision that was made was that the two prison workers aid to help Matt and Sweat with the escape from the correctional facility. When state troopers did their investigation on Joyce Mitchell she went ahead and told investigators that Matt made her feel “special” which we came to believe that she was in love with him. Apparently the State Department of Corrections received a complaint about Mitchells relationship with one of the inmates but wasn’t enough evidence to punish her. This could happen because the correctional facility being over populated. There could have been a lack of personal that work at that facility. If they had the man power maybe Joyce Mitchell would of got convicted on the 1st investigation. So this being said that could have actually start the whole special thing going on. While the Matt and Sweat was able to turn her to aid them they were able to get tools to help them out with the escape. Some of the tools that was being used was a screwdriver and a wrench that Gene Palmer gave them. This was to help fix the electrical breakers in the catwalk area behind their cells. While Matt and sweat got their way with Mitchell with her feeling special. They had Palmer smuggled the tools was through frozen meet and did other favors for Matt in exchange for the paintings that he got. According to reports the escapees used the tools to cut their escape way during the nights and would return them to their toolboxes afterwards. Sweat and Matt cut through the prison 2 foot thick walls using power tools then escaped through the sewer system.
With this being said the outcome of the escapee turnout to be on every news channel all over the United States. The massive manhunt for the two went for more than three weeks. The next day on June 7th there were 250 law enforcement agents that swept through the town of Dannemora, New York where the prison is located. A couple of days later the force pursuing the fugitives went to 250 to 450 where they got a lead that the two were near a village called Cadyville. This being said a lot of agencies were involved in the search also authorities in Canada including Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) was included in the search. Some of the agencies that were involved was ATF, FBI, U.S. Customs and immigration service and Forest Service Police. Part of New York State Route 374 was closed down for a while until further notice on June 11. On the seventh day of the search Joyce Mitchell was arrested and charged with aiding the escapees. Due to bad weather the search was on a standstill and hampered the search efforts. There was a break in the case when there was DNA from one of the inmates was found in the cabin near Owls Head in Franklin County. On June 26 Matt was spotted and was shot and killed by a border patrol agent in Malone, New York. The two inmates decide to split up. Sweat got spotted near Constable, New York two miles away from the Canadian border. A New York state trooper shot swear twice when they apprehend him. This is still going on Sweats is still in the hospital under lockdown. Mitchell and Gene Palmer have been charged in connection with the escape. Palmer was charged with promoting prion contraband, tampering with physical evidence and official misconduct. David Sweat is awaiting for his court date.

References 1. The New York Times (7 June 2015). "With Power Tools and a Ruse, 2 Killers Flee New York Prison". 2. New York murderer David Sweat still at large; Matt dead - CNN.com. (n.d.). Retrieved June 30, 2015, from http://www.cnn.com/2015/06/27/us/new-york-prison-break/index.html 3. Ethical Dilemma Examples. (n.d.). Retrieved June 30, 2015, from http://examples.yourdictionary.com/ethical-dilemma-examples.html 4. Press, T. (2015, June 29). New York prison escape: Officer had right to shoot unarmed fugitive. Retrieved June 30, 2015, from http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/new-york-prison-escape-officer-had-right-to-shoot-unarmed-fugitive-1.3131601