Go on behind prison bars. What did she know why didnt she stop it . Who could i tell . Who could i trust. Theres more to the story you havent heard. There was a gun. Joyce mitchell with her first and only interview. What have you lost in all this . The accomplice. Good evening everyone and welcome to dateline im matt laer. Two desperate convicts murders on the run after escaping with the help of a prison seamstress who may or may not have been in love with one of the killers. Tonight youll hear it all in our interview with the woman at the center of the story. A woman who claims that in a way she was a prisoner, too. The massive manhunt for the two escaped murders. An escaped manhunt that seems like a movie. How they got out, who is involved. It was an inside job we suspected almost immediately. Somebody knew somebody. No way possible that you could do it by yourself. Reporter somebody on the inside must have helped the two killers escape from the prison that was dubbed shawshank a feat no one had accomplished in living memory. Unbelievable. Perfect execution and wow. Reporter and then the world was shocked to find out that somebody, the inside man of the sophisticated houdini operation reporter was a middleaged woman, a wife and mother with no criminal background. For her to cross the line its absurd. Reporter her name Joyce Mitchell. I knew that they would blame me for all of it. Reporter until now, 51yearold Joyce Mitchell has been the enigma at the heart of the story that drew headlines all around the world. It started out as a flirtation. Unlikely accomplice of two coldblooded murderers, whose escape launched a thousandstrong manhunt and plunged terrified communities into a threeweek lockdown. These are extraordinarily dangerous men. Yes. Reporter who is she and why did she do it . You told lot of lies. I did. Reporter tonight the inside story of the prison break. Well reveal neverbeforeheard details about how they pulled it off. Well take you inside the manhunt and the deadly takedown. And, in her first and only interview, youll hear from the figure who became the lynchpin of the conspiracy. Im not the monster that everybody thinks i am. Im really not. Reporter from within the rural serenity of upstate new york, where vacationers come to camp, fish and hike, it rises unexpectedly like a titanic grey fortress. With its high walls, armed sentries and grim watchtowers, Clinton Correctional Facility radiates austerity. Maximum security. It was like a dungeon. Reporter for most of its 3,000 prisoners, like erik jensen, entering Clinton Correctional Facility was like entering hell. When you first go in there through the gates, you come through in the bus. And the gate shuts behind you. And you just look up and you could see, like, the walls surrounding you. And you feel you feel helpless in there. Reporter for officers like jeffery dumas, working at clinton correctional was practically a fight. Typically every day we had somethin to handle, whether it was just a fist fight, whether it was drugs bein found, whether it was a stabbing, a slashing, gang violence. Something like that typically always happened every day. Reporter in 2008, it was into this forbidding world that Joyce Mitchell, a seamstress, entered, to work in the prison tailor shop. And thats where we begin her story. We met her recent ly at Clinton County jail where she was awaiting sentencing for her role in the prison break. She was shackled, handcuffed, and at times seemed nervous and emotional as she revealed how she was drawn into an brazen plot by two cunning and desperate murderers. Reporter first of all, theres obviously an irony here in that you were someone who worked in a prison. Yes. Reporter and now youre being held behind bars. Whats it been like, so far . Its its nervewracking, because its not someplace that i would have ever expected to be. Reporter lets go to the beginning, then, mrs. Mitchell. Exactly what was your role in this prison . I supervised one of the tailor shops. When the inmates came in, we taught them how to sew. And we made the clothing for the inmates. Reporter as part of her training as a civilian worker, joyce had been warned of the dangers of getting too close to the inmates. She had been shown instructional videos like this one called con games inmates play. Hey. You want me to take this over there while im at it . No, thats confidential. You cant touch that. Ah, im just gonna be real quick, you know. Reporter were there rules set out by the prison . Things you were allowed to do and things you werent allowed to do in terms of forging a relationship with the prisoners . You were supposed to you know, be their supervisor and but, i mean, me being a mother, i tend to, you know, respect people more than probably what some people think i should. Especially when youre working in in a prison. Reporter and according to joyce, the atmosphere in the tailor shop was casual. Guards routinely allowed chitchat between civilians and inmates. Reporter nobody comes up and says, times up . You can talk, you know, five minutes, you can talk ten minutes, it really doesnt matter. Reporter so the conversations between you and some of the inmates went beyond teaching them how to make clothes. Yes. Reporter you talked to them about their lives. Yes. Reporter and their families. Yes. Reporter and the things they were interested in or not interested in . Yes. I guess i was more relaxed around them, knowing a little bit about them. She was nice. She wasnt strict, like a lot of the other civilian employees in there. Reporter erik jensen served nine months at clinton correctional in 2011 and 2012 for violating parole after he was convicted of theft. He was one of the inmates joyce supervised in that tailor shop. She would actually come over and help you with whatever you needed help with. And she enjoyed being there. Reporter jensen wasnt the only inmate in the tailor shop to notice joyces good nature. Two others prison buddies both convicted of murder saw it too. But they saw it as a weakness to exploit. One was david sweat. Daves crime was probably at the top of the hierarchy inside the prison system for most respectable crimes. He killed a Law Enforcement officer. Its a sick and twisted mentality in there. Reporter the other was richard matt. The word on rick was that he, you know, he liked to boil hot water with baby oil in it and throw it on peoples faces. Thats what the word about rick was in clinton. Reporter sweat and matt were lifers with time on their hands. And it was in that tailor shop that they would hatch the prisonbreak plot that would terrify upstate new york, and transfix the nation. They would begin by working on joyce, trying to turn her, by turning on the charm. I do think that she enjoyed the male attention. I think that she enjoyed comin to work and having, you know, people compliment her. Reporter and soon Joyce Mitchell would find herself falling deeper and deeper into a plot from which she could find no escape. Coming up. The prison had steel bars, barbed wire and guards with guns. How did anyone break out of there . They evil cunning conniving. Had her. I didnt mean for any of this to happen. Why did they do it . Why did she . queens youre my best friend plays ooh. You make me live, whatever this world. At petsmart, we know that pet adoption changes lives. 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Reporter throughout her years in the prison tailor shop, Joyce Mitchell got to know a lot of the inmates. But the two she ended up getting closest to were among the most notorious in the prison. They were both killers, and they would make joyce their inside woman for a plan to escape. The first was david sweat. A wiry, thoughtful prisoner in his early 30s. Reporter what was your First Impression of him . He was very quiet, very respectful. Never give you a problem. When it came to doing what needed to be done. Reporter but that impression hardly fit with the rest of his background. David sweat is a cold, calculating sociopath who only cares about himself. Reporter as a nineyearold growing up in new york, sweat brought a butchers knife to school to fend off bullies. He moved on to stealing cars and was put into a foster home after his mother couldnt cope with him. He also did time for burglaries. Then, one night in 2002, he and two accomplices rammed a pickup truck into a pennsylvania gun and Fireworks Store to steal weapons. Sheriffs captain kate newcomb says her fellow officer deputy kevin tarsia was on patrol in the wee hours and came upon the trio in a secluded parking lot. He sees a suspicious vehicle. He pulls into the park to check it out, and he exits his patrol car. Reporter it turned out sweat and his crew were transferring stolen weapons into a car there. Tarsia went to investigate. And as he walks around the front of the patrol car he begins to take gunfire from david sweat. Reporter sweat, clutching an Assault Rifle in one hand and a glock pistol in the other hit the officer with multiple shots. He falls down to the ground, and then david sweat gets into the car and proceeds to run kevin over and drag him with the with the car. Reporter one of sweats accomplices finished off the officer with shots to the head. It was an assassination, absolutely, purely for the uniform that he wore. Reporter just after 7 oclock on the following morning, kevin tarsias fiancee christiann ciccone heard a knock on her front door. I opened the door, and there were three Police Officers standing there. And i said kevin got hurt and hes in the hospital, but everythings gonna be okay. And they said, no. They said to me that kevin was murdered. Reporter the news was too hard to believe. She had been speaking to kevin just hours earlier. My whole life had been turned upside down. After kevin had been murdered, life had changed completely. My dreams and and everything was just torn away from me. Reporter david sweat was caught, eventually pleaded guilty to first degree murder and was sentenced to life without parole at clinton. His best friend there was his cell neighbor perhaps the most dangerous inmate inside Clinton Correctional Facility. His name was richard matt a hefty man in his late 40s. He also worked in the tailor shop, where joyce came to care about him too. Reporter when you started talking to richard matt, did you guys have anything in common . Not really. No. Reporter so your conversations consisted of what can i learn about your family . Yeah, pretty much. He was a very outgoing person. Reporter unlike the reserved, cautious david sweat, joyce says without her even asking, richard matt bragged about the crimes hed committed. They were even more savage than sweats. The richard matt that i knew manipulator, evil, cunning, conniving, psychotic he beat loved ones. And he had no emotion towards anybody. Reporter like sweat, matt had been a troubled youth and grew up in foster homes near buffalo, new york. He had a history of violence graduating from juvenile facilities to prison and at just 19, he made his first prison break. Lee bates was just 20 in 1997 when he got to know matt near buffalo occasionally driving him to local nightclubs. Bates says one day matt known locally as rick asked for a ride to see his former boss, 76yearold food wholesaler william rickerson. Matt said rickerson owed him money. Mr. Rickerson came and let us into the house. Rick had directed his voice at mr. Rickerson. Im here to get my money. Wheres wheres your money . And punched mr. Rickerson in the face. Reporter matt and bates tied rickerson up with duct tape and bundled him into the trunk of batess car. For nearly 30 hours, they drove around, matt occasionally stopping to beat his boss some more even breaking his fingers. Mr. Rickerson had told Mister Richard matt, ill take you to the money. Let me outta here. Ill take you to the money. Reporter bates says he protested when matt poked a knife sharpener like this one into rickersons ear. And it was at that point that richard matt had wanted to kill me. And he told richard matt, leave the kid out of this. Its between you and me. Richard matt in a more more than a fit of rage, walked to mr. Rickerson with the trunk open in my car and snapped his neck. I couldnt stop him. Reporter but that wasnt the end of it. Matt used a hacksaw to cut up rickersons body and then dumped the parts in the niagara river. We found two severed legs with no feet. Two different sections of a torso. Reporter detective Glenn Gardner of North Tonawanda pd got the case. Lee bates was soon arrested. Lee bates was the star witness that helped us eventually put the case together. And also make an arrest warrant out for richard matt. But while bates served more than sixteen years for his role in the murder, richard matt fled to mexico before he could be arrested. Hes only there a short time and he walks up behind a man in a bar. The mans in the mens room. And he stabs him in the back to get his money. They give him 20 years. Reporter he served ten years before being extradited to new york to stand trial for the rickerson murder. Matt was considered so dangerous and such a flight risk that during his trial a sniper was positioned near the courthouse. He was convicted of Second Degree murder and sentenced to life without parole. At clinton, even inmates like erik jensen were wary of matt. Rick was known in there as somebody that you would you would wanna watch your back. You know, you dont wanna do him dirty and then think that hes not gonna do anything about it. Reporter the one man matt seemed to trust was the copkiller david sweat. He and sweat were getting close to joyce. But while joyce believed it was a friendship. To the inmates it was an opportunity to crack open the door and try to escape. Coming up, rumors of romance and more behind prison bars. We all thought they were having sex back there. When dateline continues. Isnt it beautiful when things just come together . Build a beautiful website with squarespace. Toasters broken. Hats going on . Which means no eggo waffles. Something smells delicious. Eggo leggo my eggo breakfast sandwich. Its sweet, its savory, its in your microwave. Leggo my eggo breakfast sandwich. On a street just around the corner. Im home. Hi dad the force was strong between father and son. You got it . What are you doing buddy . Its my ewok happy dance of course it is. Today. Hello, hello. Hey, daddy. It is passed on to a new generation. You got it . Ewok dance . Yeah. And the circle is now complete. Walmart has always been the best place in the galaxy to get everyday low prices on star wars. Reporter Joyce Mitchell had taken a few knocks in life. Born into a modest family in upstate, new york, she dropped out of high school, worked at a local slipper factory, married her High School Sweetheart and soon divorced after her son, toby was born. By then she had caught the eye of a local man, lyle mitchell, who described the moment he saw joyce take pity on a lonely child who wanted money for a toy. Shes very, very, kindhearted. And she took the money out of her pocket and gave it to the kid. The lady has a heart of gold. Reporter joyce and lyle married in 2001, and they both ended up as civilian workers at smalltown dannemoras biggest employer, Clinton Correctional Facility. We work together, we we never leave the house unless were together with one another. Reporter joyce was with lyle nearly all the time, so life settled into a predictable pattern, hum drum perhaps. And perhaps joyce became restless. Joyce supervised some 30 men crammed into her tailor shop, which was not unlike any small industrial workshop. But as she showed them how to make prison clothes, says former inmate erik jensen, joyce would ignore personal boundaries. She was handson. She would get right in your personal space. She wouldnt even tell you, like, excuse me or anything like that. She would just like, brush right past you. And that was one of the key things that i did pick up on her. She was overly friendly. Reporter joyce was particularly friendly with the copkiller david sweat. Good worker . Very good worker. Reporter sweat had been promoted to, instructor, teaching inmates how to sew. Which landed him the top prison wage, 40 cents an hour. The position also put him in a close professional relationship with joyce. Then she allowed their relationship to become personal. She says that was natural. When youre workin with your instructor, its like your righthand man, so i mean, we were talking every day about work. There was a friendship that had developed . There was a friendship. Was there flirtation as part of that friendship . There was. Reporter jensen says the other inm