Live

Notorious Escaped Killer Says He Discovered a Way to Bust Out of Another Maximum Security Prison

David Sweat led authorities on a three-week manhunt after breaking out of a New York prison in 2015.

A convicted killer who notoriously busted out of a New York maximum security prison in 2015 says he told officials exactly how he could have done it again.

David Sweat recently told The New York Times he discovered a way to break out of New York's Five Points Correctional Facility and, in exchange for the intelligence, asked them to allow more visits from his girlfriend.

Sweat, known best for his three weeks on the run with fellow inmate Richard Matt, was denied the request. However, corrections officials confirmed he'd provided details on possible "security vulnerabilities."

Instead of more time with his sweetheart, Sweat was promptly transferred under high security to the Attica Correctional Facility. The Times reports that men who transported him said he was moved because he had gotten into a fight, something he said had never happened. 

The Department of Corrections and Community Supervision said Sweat was moved "out of an abundance of caution."

Sweat's plan was reportedly quite complex and involved whipping up a tool that can remove heavy bolts, disabling a security sensor, and using water-soaked sheets as part of a "tourniquet-like device" to pry open a steel grate.

Sweat was transferred to Five Points following his June 2015 capture after he broke out of Clinton Correctional Facility, where he was serving a sentence of life without parole for murder.

Sweat and Matt had weeks earlier pulled off one of the most high-profile prison breaks in recent memory. Matt was fatally shot by authorities two days before Sweat was brought in alive a few miles from New York's border with Canada.

RELATED STORIES