There’s been no redemption for the Shawskank.
New photographs present Joyce Mitchell residing a bleak, reclusive life in upstate New York almost 10 years to the day after she helped her alleged lovers — convicted killers Richard Matt and David Sweat — escape from Clinton maximum-security jail in Dannemora, NY.
Neighbors in sleepy Dickinson instructed The Submit they not often see the disgraced 61-year-old or her head-scratchingly devoted husband, Lyle — whose names stay tainted throughout the North Nation a decade after the jailbreak and 23-day manhunt captivated the nation and spawned a Hollywood miniseries.
“She is not regarded well around here,” stated Connie Paquin, the proprietor of Mo’s Bar and Grill in Malone, 18 miles north of the Mitchell’s rural, two-story house.
“Nobody can really believe what she did,” stated Paquin. “Everybody around here thinks she really should have got more time than she got.”
Joyce Mitchell was a supervisor within the jail tailor store when she started “flirtatious” relationships with each Matt and Sweat, who have been meticulously hatching an escape not in contrast to the fictional one in 1994’s “The Shawshank Redemption.”
Because the flings progressed, the dowdy seamstress gave Matt oral intercourse and handed alongside nude selfies for Sweat, she later confessed to authorities. Ultimately she started serving to the cons with their deliberate breakout, even smuggling in a hacksaw blade and drill bit hid in hamburger meat.
All of the whereas, her husband labored as an industrial coaching supervisor in the identical lockup.
After six months of planning and utilizing the instruments to chop by their metal cell partitions and an 18-inch steam pipe within the facility’s underbelly, the duo made their escape on June 6, 2015. They emerged from a manhole cowl about 500 toes outdoors the jail partitions round 11:50 p.m.
Joyce Mitchell was purported to be ready for her daring boytoys in a automotive at a close-by intersection at midnight, able to trip off into the sundown towards Mexico.
However she by no means confirmed up.
As a substitute, she went to the hospital within the throes of a panic assault.
The 2 inmates skulked across the neighborhood till about 12:20 a.m. Realizing she had backed out, they took off.
The escape, and Joyce’s romantic position in it, made nationwide headlines, and Joyce was dubbed “Shawskank.” Then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo rushed to the jail, the place he was photographed peering into the manhole.
The following, 23-day manhunt riveted the nation, with 1,500 legislation enforcement officers, at a value of $1 million-per-day, scouring the deep woods of the North Nation for the determined fugitives.
However they have been elusive, trudging by dense forests and swamps, and organising makeshift campsites once they weren’t squatting in empty searching cabins. In a single, they picked up a 20-gauge shotgun, rum, boots, binoculars, maps and different provides.
The duo lastly cut up up on June 23. Three days later, Matt was cornered by border patrol brokers close to Lake Titus. When he ignored instructions to give up, he was shot useless.
On June 28, Sweat was noticed by a State Trooper close to Constable. When he tried to run, the sergeant fired two rounds, hitting Sweat within the left arm and proper shoulder earlier than he was recaptured.
Joyce was arrested June 12 – lower than every week after the jailbreak. She pleaded responsible in September 2015 to selling jail contraband and prison facilitation, and was sentenced to two-and-a-half to seven years. She was launched after lower than 5 years spent at Bedford Hills Correctional Facility in Westchester County.
Within the years since, Joyce has put up a contented entrance on Fb, the place she makes use of her outdated nickname Tillie — similar to her character performed by Patricia Arquette in Ben Stiller’s mini-series “Escape at Dannemora.”
Seemingly serene household photographs of Joyce and Lyle posted in August 2023 present the couple posing alongside six different adults and a little bit lady within the woods.
One other Fb snap reveals the teen, believed to be the couple’s granddaughter, lovingly wrapping her arms round a grumpy-looking Lyle.
However away from social media, neighbors say the couple not often poke their heads out from their grey, worn-down, two-story house, which is embellished with butterfly windchimes, a ceramic canine sculpture and different tchotchkes. A black Boston Terrier could possibly be seen lazing inside a windowsill when The Submit visited not too long ago.
It’s unclear how the couple will get by financially. Joyce was fired and Lyle give up amid disciplinary actions. They each acquire small state pensions, which have been diminished as a result of they left jobs lengthy earlier than their anticipated retirement dates.
“Obviously she’s not working in corrections. I don’t think anyone would hire [either of] them around here,” stated Ed Work, who serves as a warden at close by Franklin Correctional.
Lyle made $20,292 in 2024, whereas Joyce made solely $8,775, in accordance with public state pension information.
Till a couple of years in the past, Work stated he used to identify Joyce headed to her month-to-month parole-officer conferences.
“I’ve seen her a few times going to parole and I’ve seen her once at the store since she’s been out, but I haven’t seen Lyle once,” he stated.
“It’s a close community, but no, they’re not really involved,” he continued.
On the Franklin jail, Work stated correction officer trainees are taught Joyce’s relationship with Matt and Sweat for example of what to not do.
“You know, some prisoners might try to manipulate you, saying, ‘You look nice today’ and other stuff to get better treatment. But you can’t let ‘em get to you,” Work defined.
“Joyce isn’t the prettiest girl in town, so I’m not sure what those guys were doing, but I guess you get pretty desperate in jail,” he added with a chuckle.
One neighbor described the Mitchells as “friendly” and useful.
Lyle has helped the neighbor, who gave his identify as Jeff, clear his land. “It’s a lot of work clearing the lot, and that’s what we talk about. Nothing personal,” stated Jeff.
As for Joyce, “she waves when I see her coming out, but it’s not that often.”
Regardless of the allegations towards Joyce – which included a plot to kill Lyle, in accordance with Sweat and investigators – Lyle welcomed his spouse again with open arms.
He’s decidedly much less tolerant of nosy journalists.
“Leave us alone. Get the f–k away from us and leave us alone,” he barked at a Submit reporter earlier than slamming the door shut. “Stay the f–k away from us.”
