Gov. Cuomo: Brazen Mr. Sweat Is Going to Have ‘A Nice Day’
The massive man-hunt for the two escaped prisoners from the Clinton Correctional Facility has ended.
“22 days, 1000 men searching swamp and brush—and we got them, no one got hurt… and the escapees were brought to justice—so it ends as well as it could have ended,” New York Governor Andrew Cuomo told FOX Business Network’s Maria Bartiromo.
Gov. Cuomo said the 150- year old maximum security facility was “the state’s number one prison… never had an escape,” and was previously used to threaten inmates that were “bad.”
“It was a huge thing… The prisons are always a possible nightmare situation… These are dangerous places… and bad things happen. These two men were really dangerous, dangerous killers,” he said.
Looking forward, Gov. Cuomo says law enforcement officials are doing everything possible to ensure something like this never happens again.
“I don’t care if you think you’re in love… It is illegal to conspire with prisoners… [Joyce Mitchell] is going to be fully prosecuted… These prisons run on rules and systems. If you break the rules and do not follow the system … there will be consequences and I want the entire system to understand that,” he said.
Cuomo said there will also be a second investigation stemming from the escape.
“There was an honor block—and if you got to the honor block they gave you certain benefits. I understand the concept which is you want to incentivize good behavior… but I’m dubious about this honor block concept and civilian clothes and giving people hot plates… I want to review all those systems – because we got lucky here, there’s no doubt,” he said.
According to Cuomo, Sweat is currently in “stable and critical” condition.
“If he survives it would be very helpful because we can get more information on the investigation. His life looks lonely… I don’t think he is going to have another love affair with that kind of intimacy for the remainder of his prison term,” he said.