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Woman Who Aided Killers' Escape Released From Bedford Hills Correctional Facility On Parole

A prison seamstress who became famous after helping two killers escape by smuggling in hacksaw blades and drill bits has been released from a prison in Westchester on parole.

Former corrections employee Joyce Mitchell who helped two convicted murders escape from prison has been granted parole.

Former corrections employee Joyce Mitchell who helped two convicted murders escape from prison has been granted parole.

Photo Credit: New York State Police
Richard Matt and David Sweat

Richard Matt and David Sweat

Photo Credit: New York State Police

Joyce Mitchell, 55, also known as "Tillie," was released from the Bedford Hill Correctional Facility on Thursday, Feb. 6, state corrections officials said.

"On Feb. 6, 2020, Mrs. Joyce Mitchell was conditionally released from Bedford Hills Correctional Facility to Community Supervision," the department said in a statement. "Mrs. Mitchell will be supervised in Franklin County. Per her sentence, the supervision will be completed on June 8, 2022."

Michell helped Richard Matt and David Sweat escape from the Clinton Correction Facility in Dannemora, New York, in June 2015, in an incident that garnered international attention and was the subject of television dramas.

The two used the hacksaw blades and drill bits, to cut through the walls of the maximum-security prison and escaped on June 6, 2015.

Matt was shot and killed by authorities while on the lam and Sweat was also shot but survived and sent back to prison. 

Mitchell, who reportedly had a relationship with both men, was supposed to have been the getaway driver, but chickened out, according to multiple accounts.

She was sentenced in Sept. 2015 to 2⅓ to seven years in prison and was later denied parole three times before.

The escape, and Michell's part in it, became a 2018 Showtime series, "Escape at Dannemora."

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