investigation says that according to sweat, this was a plan long in the making. stwet told investigators beginning last winter, sweat cut a hole in his cell, first. and then matt s cell. sweat would leave his cell every night in search of an escape route. the new york times reports that sweat cut through a withdrawal when steam was being blown on him. an inmate told richard matt he heard noise coming fr sweat s cell as the two were cutting through the wall with a hacksaw. the paper says matt explained it away saying he was stretching canvas for one of his paintings. it turns out sweat and matt made a practice run the night before the actual escape. but when they emerged fr a manhole, sweat told authorities there were just too many houses.