New York prison escapee David Sweat was released from Albany Medical Center and is back behind bars at Five Points Correctional Facility in Romulus, New York, according to the New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision.
It’s a maximum security prison.
Authorities shot Sweat and apprehended him on June 28 after he’d been on the lam for weeks with another inmate, Richard Matt.
Sweat has been talking to investigators about how the men managed to drill their way out of Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora, New York, on June 6.
Matt was shot and killed a few days before Sweat was caught.
Sweat was recovering from his injuries in the hospital but was released from there just after 3:00 a.m. Sunday to be moved to the Five Points facility, the department said. Citing security concerns, officials would not discuss what mode of transport was used to move him.
He was to remain in the prison infirmary for 24 hours to be evaluated and would be placed on suicide watch, according to the department. After he’s evaluated, Sweat will be held in a single cell inside the facility, which has 150 beds and keeps inmates confined 23 hours a day.
Each cell has a bed, a writing platform, a toilet and sink, and a facility-controlled shower.
Five Points opened in 2000.
In 2011, an escape from the prison was thwarted and contraband was found, according to news reports.
There was a full prison lockdown there in October 2012 after a fight among inmates, according to the department.
What’s next for Sweat
Sweat will be subject to an internal disciplinary hearing at Five Points, and could face separate criminal charges in a New York state court, according to Karen Murtagh, the executive director of Prisoners’ Legal Services of New York, a state-sponsored nonprofit that provides legal representation to New York state inmates.
The department can impose a long time solitary confinement, she said.
“It can be years and years and years. There is really no limit to how long they could sentence him to solitary,” she said.
But solitary doesn’t typically mean being placed in dark conditions. It can often mean that a prisoner cannot use the phone, receive packages or have access to a commissary, she said.