Joyce Mitchell, the former prison seamstress who's awaiting sentencing for her role in helping Richard Matt and David Sweat escape a New York correctional facility, told Matt Lauer in her first interview since her arrest that "I just got in over my head."
The two men escaped New York's Clinton Correctional Facility in July, and Mitchell pleaded guilty to her role in facilitating their escape. She smuggled hacksaw blades to the two men,
buried in hamburger meat, CNN said. Prison guard Gene Palmer was also arrested in connection with delivering the meat to the inmates.
The "Today" show interview will air Monday and Friday but, in snippets released ahead of time, Lauer shared some of Mitchell's revelations on her role in the escape that kept much of New York on edge as the two convicted murderers eluded police. Matt was ultimately shot and killed, while Sweat was recaptured.
Lauer sat down with Mitchell at the jail where she is awaiting sentencing.
"I was going through a point in my life — a lot of people go through depression. A lot of people go through that. And I just got in over my head," Mitchell told the "Today" host. "And I couldn't get out. And I couldn't tell anybody. I couldn't tell my husband. Couldn't tell my family. I couldn't tell my co-workers. I couldn't tell anybody. There's nobody you can tell."
When Lauer asked whether Sweat had "complete control" over her, Mitchell answered, "Yes. He was good at that."
After he was recaptured, Sweat told authorities that Mitchell was supposed to meet the two escapees and pick them up after they got out of the prison, according to CNN. He also told authorities they were supposed to kill her husband when they got out. Sweat alleged that Mitchell asked them to do so, but her attorney said that wasn't true.
Mitchell ultimately failed to show up to pick the inmates up, sending the two men on the run in upstate New York.
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