Lyle Mitchell speaks about his wife's alleged involvement in convicted killers' escape
New York prison worker Joyce Mitchell — who has been accused of helping murderers Richard Matt and David Sweat escape from an upstate New York high-security prison — was "in over her head," according to her husband, Lyle Mitchell, who made his comments in an interview with NBC.
Joyce Mitchell denied having a sexual relationship with either of the prisoners, but Lyle Mitchell said she had planned to flee with the pair and that Matt had tried to kiss her "a couple of times." Matt also supposedly went as far as to give Joyce Mitchell the pills she would need to knock her husband out.
"She said: 'I love my husband, I'm not hurtin' him," Lyle Mitchell told NBC, explaining his wife's change of mind.
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The Mitchells have been married for 14 years and have known each other for 21. Lyle Mitchell said he was unaware of his wife's plot, and does not yet know if he'll testify against her.
"She said 'I—I did some things…and I got in over my head,'" Lyle Mitchell said of his wife coming clean to him. "I didn’t know what to say. I was just…disbelief, shock."
Another prison worker, Gene Palmer, has already been placed on administrative leave on the suspicion that he also had a hand in helping Matt and Sweat escape.
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Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.
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