David Sweat: Inmate Left Cell Almost Nightly For Six Months Before Prison Escape

David Sweat escaped from his prison cell almost every night in order to dig his way out of the Clinton Correctional Facility in New York. According to the New York Daily News, David Sweat would wait until the guards fell asleep before sneaking out of his cell through a hole he had cut. He and his prison pal, Richard Matt, had been planning their escape for six months.

“Waiting until after 11:30 p.m. head count, the 35-year-old convicted murderer used a hacksaw blade, which had reportedly been smuggled into the prison in hamburger meat, to cut through a hole in the back of his cell. He was later able to saw through the back of Matt’s cell.”

David Sweat says that he was inspired by the film Shawshank Redemption. He would hide the hole in his cell and go about his day, waiting for night to fall so that he could continue preparing his escape route. Of course, his plan worked. Sweat and Matt escaped from prison in June, and were on the run for a couple of weeks. Police caught up to Matt on June 26, and he was shot dead. Sweat was captured two days later. Although he was shot, he didn’t die.

He told investigators his story from his hospital bed.

According to ABC News, Sweat has been transferred to the Five Points Correctional Facility in Romulus, New York, where he is in solitary confinement.

Not all of what David Sweat has been telling investigators might be true, however. As previously reported by the Inquisitr, Sweat was accused of telling tall tales and making his prison escape story seem a lot more glamorous than it actually was. He has taken full credit for the escape that landed him back in jail, and his buddy isn’t around to say anything different.

“David Sweat has also named himself as the break out’s mastermind, claiming they used only hacksaws to cut through prison walls and confirmed they were provided by seamstress Joyce Mitchell via frozen hamburger. Additionally, he said they smashed through a brick wall in the bowels of the prison with a sledgehammer. And during the ensuing manhunt, Sweat asserts that he heard the searchers’ voices from the safety of a cabin and watched others from a tree stand.”

David Sweat has also denied having sex with Joyce Mitchell, telling investigators it was Richard Matt who was sleeping with the former prison worker.

[Photo courtesy of the New York State Police via ABC News]