--- description: The former Clinton Correctional Facility inmate likened his story to "The Shawshank Redemption." title: David Sweat Details How He Escaped From Prison image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0e821a2b64594f34/69885ba9a988ca1d126b3881/sweat.jpeg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [U.S.](/section/us/) ## U.S. Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # David Sweat Details How He Escaped From Prison by [Sarah Begley](/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jul 20, 2015 9:24 PM CUT  In this handout from New York State Police, convicted murderer David Sweat (L) is shown. Richard Matt, 48, and Sweat, 34, escaped from the maximum security prison June 6, 2015 using power tools and going through a manhole. In this handout from New York State Police, convicted murderer David Sweat (L) is shown. Richard Matt, 48, and Sweat, 34, escaped from the maximum security prison June 6, 2015 using power tools and going through a manhole.Handout—Getty Images by [Sarah Begley](/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jul 20, 2015 9:24 PM CUT One of the Clinton Correctional Facility escapees has [detailed](http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/21/nyregion/in-new-york-prison-escape-patience-timing-and-luck-for-david-sweat.html "undefined") how he and his partner worked on their escape from prison over the course of months. Officials tell the New York _Times_ that Sweat has given a thorough account of his actions, which involved climbing through a panel he sawed off in his cell and exploring the tunnels underneath the prison for weaknesses in the structure nearly every night since last winter. He was confident that guards wouldn’t notice he was missing during these missions because they were asleep. He had apparently been mulling this plan for some time, but took action only after being transferred to a cell next to Richard Matt, his partner in crime who was shot to death by a federal agent during the search for the escaped men. Sweat says he and Matt joked about the similarity of their mission to the plot from the movie _The Shawshank Redemption_. Read more at the [New York _Times_](http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/21/nyregion/in-new-york-prison-escape-patience-timing-and-luck-for-david-sweat.html "undefined"). ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3965149/david-sweat-escape-details/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3965149/david-sweat-escape-details/"},"headline":"David Sweat Details How He Escaped From Prison","datePublished":"2015-07-20T21:24:46.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T09:24:52.905Z","description":"The former Clinton Correctional Facility inmate likened his story to 'The Shawshank Redemption'","url":"https://time.com/3965149/david-sweat-escape-details/","keywords":["Crime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0e821a2b64594f34/69885ba9a988ca1d126b3881/sweat.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Sarah Begley","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/"}],"articleSection":"U.S.","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0e821a2b64594f34/69885ba9a988ca1d126b3881/sweat.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Convicted Murderers Escape From New York State Prison","caption":"Convicted Murderers Escape From New York State Prison","creditText":"Handout—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/us/","name":"U.S."}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3965149/david-sweat-escape-details/","name":"David Sweat Details How He Escaped From Prison"}}]}] ```