Comment on N.Y. inmates practiced breakout the night before, escapee tells police

DANNEMORA, N.Y. – One of two convicted murderers who broke out of a maximum-security prison in June told police that they conducted a practice run the night before their daring escape, a district attorney said. Clinton County District Attorney Andrew Wylie said David Sweat, 35, told police from his Albany Medical Center hospital bed that he masterminded the June 6 breakout from Clinton Correctional Facility and began working on it in January. The escape by Sweat and 49-year-old Richard Matt launched a massive 23-day manhunt amid the rugged northern New York terrain involving more than 1,100 law enforcement officers. Matt was shot and killed by a border patrol officer June 26 in Malone.