CRAFTY

Escaped Prisoners Used Electric Saw

Smuggled in by female employee.

Escaped murderers Richard Matt and David Sweat got their hands on an electric saw and a sledgehammer, law-enforcement officials told the Albany Times Union on Tuesday. The hand-held saw came “from a female civilian employee who had developed a personal relationship with Matt and smuggled the tool into the prison.” The men then spliced an electrical cord from a light fixture to power the saw and cut a hole in a steam pipe that led outside. Once there, they used a 20-pound sledgehammer to break the locks off a manhole cover (from the inside) and run free. Both men reportedly planned their escape from the prison’s tailor shop, where they were making uniforms for rail workers.