A jail guard is sentenced to six months of imprisonment after aiding two convicted killer inmates to break out from an upstate New York correctional prison. The said jail officer admitted that he secretly provided the two inmates with tools, who made the escape last year in June.
Gene Palmer pleaded guilty on the charges that he helped two inmates to escape from the Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora, Yahoo News reported. Palmer smuggled tools such as pliers and screwdrivers to aid the escaped of the two convicted inmates, Richard Matt and David Sweat. The said smuggled tools were hidden in a frozen meat.
The manhunt for the two inmate escapees took three-weeks that left Matt dead after being shot while Sweat was taken back to prison, New York Times reported. The 57 year old guard officer Palmer pleaded guilty in Clinton County Court in Plattsburgh, New York, on Monday to two counts of promoting prison contraband, one a felony and one a misdemeanor, and official misconduct, a misdemeanor.
Sweat, who was already serving a life sentence for killing a law enforcement officer, was sentenced in February to up to 14 more years for the escape. Palmer is sentenced to six months in jail and a $5,000 fines. The defendant refused to comment regarding the sentenced, New York Post reported. However his defense lawyer said his client was not aware that he was aiding the escape. "When he found out about it, he was just as surprised as anyone else," William Dreyer said.
Joyce Mitchell, the prison employee who admitted helping the two convicted murderers by smuggling them tools, was sentenced in September to 2-1/3 to seven years in prison. Palmer also said he did not know there was a hacksaw blade in the meat provided by the Mitchell. The jail guard will resign from the corrections department, the judge said. After the escape, he was suspended from his $74,644 a year job as a guard.
