Prison break: Dannemora repairs cost $300K
ALBANY – The state is paying up to $300,000 for immediate repairs to the maximum-security Clinton Correctional Facility after two inmates busted through pipes and walls to escape June 6.
The state Comptroller's Office has signed off on the request from the state Office of General Services to fix "damaged walls, fence and piping in various locations" of the prison in Dannemora, Clinton County, according to records obtained today by Gannett's Albany Bureau.
The tab is one of the first examples of the costs associated with the breakout by Richard Matt and David Sweat amid estimates that the three-week manhunt was costing state and federal governments about $1 million a day.
In the request two days after the breakout, OGS and the state Department of Corrections and Community Supervision said the facility needed to hire an outside contractor to make the repairs and listed three companies they had contacted for quotes.
They chose the lowest bidder, Adirondack Mechanical Services in Wilton, Saratoga County, for a contract not to exceed $300,000. It's unclear whether all the work has been completed.
Matt and Sweat sawed through brick and metal walls and steel steam pipes in an elaborate scheme to break out of the North Country facility. Prison worker Joyce Mitchell has been charged with helping the two men escape by providing them hacksaw blades, chisels and other tools, while corrections officer Gene Palmer is accused of also aiding their escape.
Mitchell was transferred Tuesday from a county jail near Albany back to Clinton County jail. She has pleaded not guilty, as has Palmer.
Matt was shot and killed by police on June 26, while Sweat was shot by a state trooper two days later, but survived. Sweat on Sunday was reassigned to the Five Points maximum-security prison in Seneca County.
The state Inspector's General Office is investigating the breakout as three administrators and nine guards were put on administrative leave June 30.
At least 12 officers and the former superintendent at Clinton have filed paperwork to retire since the escape, state records showed.
Superintendent Steven Racette put in his paperwork to retire just days after he was put on leave, according to the Comptroller's Office. Racette earned $129,000 last year.
It's unclear whether the officers who were suspended are among those who put in for their retirement. The state didn't release the name of the suspended officers.
Because of the public pension perks, retirements are common among prison guards, similar to police and fire employees.
But the rate since the prison break appears to be higher than normal: There were four retirement applications in June 2014 and five in July 2014, the Comptroller's Office said.
Clinton has about 1,000 guards: an inmate to guard ratio of about 2.7.
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