Prison guard allegedly helped New York inmates escape in exchange for their paintings

As if the escaped New York inmates story couldn't get weirder, this just in: A second guard has been accused of helping murderers Richard Matt and David Sweat escape from the Clinton Correctional Facility — in exchange for paintings.

Gene Palmer was arrested yesterday in connection to the escape, and is accused of giving the killers flat-head screwdrivers and needle-nose pliers on at least four occasions. The tools were supposedly smuggled into the prison in raw meat. In return, Matt gave him his art.

Palmer allegedly destroyed some of the paintings in a fire pit outside his house after learning of the murderers' escape, and buried other paintings in the woods. However, Andrew Brockaway, Palmer's lawyer, said Palmer had no knowledge that the tools used in the prisoners' escape were inside the raw meat.

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An ex-inmate supplied NBC News with photos of some of Matt's art, featuring Bill Clinton and Oprah Winfrey. Jeva Lange