Joyce Mitchell Sentenced

Joyce Mitchell, the former worker at the Clinton Correctional Facility who helped two convicted killers escape from that prison this summer, has been sentenced to jail for at least 2 1/3 to seven years.  Mitchell was sentenced under terms of a plea bargain deal made with prosecutors this summer.

Mitchell pleaded guilty to charges that she provided tools to Richard Matt and David Sweat that aided their escape on June 6.  The two were able to elude as many as 1,000 law enforcement personnel  for three weeks.

Matt was shot and killed by a border agent on June 26 while Sweat was wounded and captured near the Canadian border two days later.

Mitchell also admitted to being the getaway driver for the pair but pulled out before actually going through with it.  She had been a long-time state employee at the prison.