Second New York State prison escapee David Sweat is in custody after being shot by police, US media report.
They say 35-year-old convicted murderer Sweat was captured near the Canadian border.
His prison-break partner Richard Matt, 49, was killed by police on Friday.
The
two murderers escaped three weeks ago from the maximum security Clinton
Correctional Facility in Dannemora through the sewer system after using
power tools to break out of their cell.
The spectacular escape set off a massive manhunt.
Sweat
was shot and seized in the town of Constable on Sunday, Franklin County
Sheriff Kevin Mulverhill was quoted as saying by the Associated Press
news agency.
Sheriff Mulverhill said the prisoner was now in hospital, but added that he had no information on his condition.
Matt was shot dead near the town of Malone. The
pair had been making their way through rugged forests in upstate New
York, stealing food and guns from woodland cabins along the way.
US officials have charged prison worker Joyce Mitchell with aiding the two inmates in their escape.
Prosecutors allege that she gave the men power tools that allowed
them to saw through a steel cell wall before bashing a hole through a
brick wall and crawling through.
Ms Mitchell denies the charges.
Clinton correction officer Gene Palmer is also accused of aiding the convicts.
Officials
allege that he gave Sweat and Matt the frozen hamburger meat Ms
Mitchell had used to hide hacksaw blades and a screwdriver.
Mr Palmer's attorney said his client had no knowledge that the meat contained the escape tools.
Matt was serving a prison sentence of 25 years to life for the killing and dismembering of his former boss.
Sweat was serving a life sentence for murdering a sheriff's deputy. Manhunt timeline
5 June: David Sweat and Richard Matt escape from Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora
6-7 June: Possible sighting of pair in Dannemora
9 June: Search focuses on Willsboro area after another possible sighting
10 June: Police close off Route 374 between Dannemora and Cadyville and search expands to neighbouring Vermont
11 June: Police dogs find food wrapper and footprint at suspected camp site near Dannemora
15 June: Prison worker Joyce Mitchell pleads not guilty to aiding the prisoners
24 June: Prison worker Gene Palmer charged with aiding the prisoners
25 June: Richard Matt is shot and killed near the Canadian border
27 June: David Sweat shot and captured near Canadian border
The
jail worker accused of helping two convicted murders escape an upstate
New York prison a week ago has been moved to a lockup in another county.
Rensselaer
County Jail officials say Joyce Mitchell was transported there and
arrived at 10 a.m. Saturday. Clinton County Sheriff David Favro
requested the move.
Prosecutors say the prison
tailor shop instructor befriended the men and gave them hacksaw blades,
chisels, a punch and a screwdriver bit.
Mitchell is also suspected of agreeing to be a getaway driver but didn't show up, leaving the men on foot early on June 6.
Hundreds of law enforcement officials are searching the area around the prison for inmates David Sweat and Richard Matt.
---
10:15 a.m. (EDT)
A
contingent of about 40 police officers entered a heavily wooded area
and went door-to-door along a narrow road about 3 miles from the prison
where two killers used power tools to cut their way out to freedom a
week ago.
After a night of heavy rain,
authorities resumed searching the area near the upstate New York prison
under blue skies on Saturday. Another group of heavily armed 10
policemen wearing bulletproof vests entered an area adjacent to the
Saranac River accompanied by a German shepherd.
State
police said there were no new leads and that the search would continue
to target a triangular area of heavy woods southeast of the prison
walls.
Late Friday, authorities also searched the manhole where the escapees broke free outside the prison walls.
---
6:10 a.m. (EDT)
Hundreds
of law enforcement personnel have begun an eighth day searching for two
killers who used power tools to cut their way out of a prison in far
upstate New York.
The searched continued
Saturday the morning after a prison worker pleaded not guilty in
Plattsburgh to giving contraband to inmates David Sweat and Richard Matt
at the Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora.
Prosecutors
say prison tailor shop instructor Joyce Mitchell befriended the men and
gave them hacksaw blades, chisels, a punch and a screwdriver bit.
Mitchell is also suspected of agreeing to be a getaway driver but didn't show up, leaving the men on foot early on June 6.
---
1:36 a.m. (EDT)
A
northern New York prison worker accused of helping two killers escape
last weekend gave the men hacksaw blades, chisels, a punch and a
screwdriver bit, according to criminal complaints.
Prison
tailor shop instructor Joyce Mitchell is accused of befriending inmates
David Sweat and Richard Matt at the Clinton Correctional Facility in
Dannemora and giving them contraband.
Mitchell's
hands were cuffed in front of her and she stared straight ahead while
she was arraigned Friday night in Plattsburgh on charges of felony
promoting prison contraband and misdemeanor criminal facilitation. She
was ordered jailed on $100,000 cash bail.
Mitchell's family has said she would not have helped the convicts break out. She pleaded not guilty.
Mitchell has another court appearance scheduled for Monday.
Police say they won't stop looking for the escaped inmates.
Police bloodhounds have found where
David Sweat and Richard Matt may have spent the night after they escaped
from prison six days ago.
Food wrappers and other evidence were discovered in the woods nearby the prison according to US media reports.
Police have been receiving hundreds of tips from the public, and a sighting has been reported in Philadelphia.
"Follow every lead you have" Governor Andrew Cuomo told police as the search extended into Vermont.
"Follow
them as if it's the lead that's going to break the case. I am confident
we are going to find them, the only question is when."
The manhunt in northern New York and surrounding areas has also reached into campsites and boat slips in neighbouring Vermont.
Uninhabited vacation homes are being searched in the popular tourist region.
Homeowners are being asked to leave their outdoor lights on overnight to aid police in the search.
Mr
Shumlin and Mr Cuomo held a joint press conference outside the maximum
security prison from where the men escaped, Clinton Correctional
Facility.
"New York was going to be hot. Vermont would be cooler,
in terms of law enforcement," Mr Shumlin said, referring to the
unspecified information about the men's whereabouts.
Rainstorms have complicated efforts by masking scents detectable by search dogs and forcing officers to wade through swamps.
Officials at the Saranac Central School District, less than a mile
from the prison, closed schools on Thursday "in order to assist law
enforcement personnel with their search efforts, and due to the closure
of a number of roads".
Police have interviewed a cab driver in
Philadelphia, who told authorities to say he may have given a ride to
the men early on Thursday morning. But police later ruled that out as a
lead.
5 June: David Sweat and Richard Matt escape from Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora
6-7 June: Possible sighting of pair in Dannemora
9 June: Search focuses on Willsboro area after another possible sighting
10 June: Police close off Route 374 between Dannemora and Cadyville and search expands to neighbouring Vermont
11 June: Police dogs find food wrapper and footprint at suspected camp site near Dannemora
Police
confirmed on Wednesday that they had interviewed "one woman in
particular" who may have befriended the inmates and had a role in their
escape, but would not go into detail.
That woman "may had had some role in assisting them", said New York state police superintendent Joseph D'Amico.
Matt was given a jail term of 25 years to life for beating a man to death in 1997.
Sweat was serving a life sentence without parole for the murder of Broome County Sheriff's Deputy, Kevin Tarsia.
Police are questioning workers at a maximum security prison in New York following the escape of two murderers.
"They needed the assistance of someone", Governor Andrew Cuomo told US television networks on Monday morning.
Hundreds
of employees and construction contractors are now being investigated to
determine if they provided the power tools used to escape.
"I don't believe they could have acquired the equipment they needed to do this without help," said Mr Cuomo.
Richard
Matt, 48, and David Sweat, 34, used power tools to break out of Clinton
Correctional Facility in Dannemora on Friday night.
The two men
cut through the steel back walls of their cell before clambering along a
catwalk to reach a series of pipes and tunnels, which they again cut
their way through.
The pair then climbed up through a manhole into a nearby street,
"disappearing into the darkness some 20 miles (30km) south of Canada",
said Mr Cuomo. The New York Post reported on Monday that a female employee has been questioned and removed from her post.
A
source tells the newspaper that Matt "has a way with the ladies" and
that this may have played a role in enlisting a female accomplice.
All
of the tools belonging to the prison have been accounted for "so far,"
acting state Corrections Commissioner Anthony Annucci told the
newspaper, leading investigators to believe the tools may have come from
outside the prison.
The breakout is the first escape from the prison, nicknamed "Little Siberia", in 150 years.
Governor
Cuomo said the age of the prison meant that outside builders frequently
enter the prison for renovation work, and that it's possible the tools
used were provided by one of them.
New York state is offering a $100,000 (£65,000) reward for information.
Matt was given a jail term of 25 years to life for beating a man to death in 1997.
Sweat was serving a life sentence without parole for the murder of Broome County Sheriff's Deputy, Kevin Tarsia.
Mr Tarsia's brother Steven said finding out that his killer had escaped "turns your world upside-down all over again".
Mr Cuomo toured the prison on Saturday and posted pictures of pipes
and walls with chunks cut out after he was shown the inmates' escape
route.
More than 250 officers are searching for the prisoners, using sniffer dogs and aerial surveillance.
They may have crossed the border into Canada or headed to another state, Mr Cuomo said.
There is "nothing to be afraid of" in Canada, Roland-Luc Beliveau, the mayor of Lacolle in Quebec told CTV on Monday.
"We're well-protected", he said.
What they did
David Sweat, 34, was serving a life
sentence without the possibility of parole for killing Sheriff's Deputy
Kevin Tarsia in 2002 after breaking into a home to steal firearms
Richard Matt, 48, was serving 25 years
for kidnapping, killing and dismembering his former boss, William
Rickerson, in 1997. He had previously escaped jail in 1986 while serving
time for assault
