It’s been 10 years since David Sweat and his partner-in-crime, Richard Matt, broke out of Clinton Correctional Facility in a headline-grabbing prison break that left the nation riveted and law enforcement scrambling. In a rare jailhouse interview with the New York Post, Sweat, 44, spoke candidly about the escape and his biggest regret: teaming up with Matt in the first place.
Sweat, who is serving life without parole for killing a Broome County sheriff’s deputy in 2002, said he believes he would still be free if he’d gone it alone.
“If I hadn’t done it with him, I’d probably still be out,” Sweat said during the emotional interview at Mid-State Correctional Facility in upstate New York.
The former fugitive described Matt, who was killed by police during the manhunt, as untrustworthy. He even suspects Matt was once a police informant back in the 1990s. “You can’t trust someone like that… and that’s worse than the drinking,” he said, referring to Matt’s boozing after they found liquor in an abandoned cabin during their time on the run.
Sweat and Matt’s infamous escape on June 6, 2015, was aided by prison seamstress Joyce Mitchell, who smuggled in tools hidden in frozen hamburger meat. Over the course of several months, the duo cut through steel walls, eventually crawling through a pipe and surfacing outside the prison. Their elaborate plan ended in chaos when Mitchell failed to show up with a getaway car as promised.
For 23 days, more than 1,500 officers hunted the two men through thick forests and rural areas near the Canadian border. In the end, Matt was shot dead by police, while Sweat was captured after being shot twice in the back by a state trooper.
Sweat slammed the Netflix series “Escape at Dannemora” as inaccurate, saying it twisted his story for Hollywood drama. “A lot of stuff was untrue,” he said, particularly about his alleged relationship with Mitchell. He insists they were never involved romantically, despite Mitchell’s admissions of a sexual relationship with Matt and providing nude photos to Matt to share with Sweat.
These days, Sweat spends his time in an 18-by-5-foot cell, claiming he’s been kept in solitary confinement and shuffled through nine different prisons since his recapture. He passes the days reading “Wheel of Time,” lifting books like makeshift weights, and watching wildlife through his tiny window.
Despite everything, Sweat seems to show some understanding of what his actions cost others. He expressed sympathy for Mitchell, who was released in 2020 after serving five years for her role in the escape. “She lost her job and this affected her and her family,” Sweat said. “Five years is a long time. It probably did a number on her.”
But Sweat knows his own fate is sealed.
“They’ll never let me go to general population,” he admitted. “They think I’d try to do it again or help someone else.” His eyes welled up with tears when asked if he was lonely. “Yes,” he said quietly.
As the nation marks 10 years since the “Escape at Dannemora,” Sweat remains a stark reminder of what happens when ruthless criminals are willing to risk everything for a fleeting shot at freedom.
Sweat’s story resonates today, particularly in the wake of the recent New Orleans jail escape perpetrated by ten inmates. The tenth anniversary also happens to come in the wake of numerous shifts to the operation of correctional facilities in the state, namely the lowering of the hiring age of correctional officers to curb an ongoing staffing shortage.
