Gov. Cuomo: Escaped prisoners could be 'in Mexico by now'

Photos of Richard Matt and David Sweat.
(Image credit: Eric Thayer/Getty Images)

As the manhunt continues for two convicted murderers who escaped from a prison in upstate New York last week, Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) said on Sunday the men could be near the Clinton Correctional Facility or "in Mexico by now."

"We don't know if they are still in the area," he said during a news conference. Authorities are focusing their search for Richard Matt, 48, and David Sweat, 38, in the fields and woods around the prison. District Attorney Andrew Wylie told CNN that the pair planned to have prison employee Joyce Mitchell, 51, who worked in the prison tailor shop, drive them seven hours away to an unknown destination after they escaped. Mitchell, who is now jailed, backed out at the last minute "because she did love her husband and didn't want to do this to him."

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.