In an epic prison break that brings to mind the film The Shawshank Redemption, two convicted murderers escaped from the Clinton Correctional Facility in upstate New York on Saturday.
The escape reportedly involved Richard Matt, 48, and David Sweat, 34, cutting through a steel wall, and traveling through a series of tunnels that lead to a manhole outside the prison's walls.
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Photo: In the cell of one of escaped inmates, looking at the hole cut in the wall as part of escape pic.twitter.com/tGAtt8xHyb— Andrew Cuomo (@NYGovCuomo) June 6, 2015
Fans of the 1994 film, starring Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman, will notice similarities between the film's elaborate escape and Saturday's real-life breakout. In Shawshank Redemption (Warning: Spoilers ahead), one character uses a tiny metal instrument to dig his way out of his prison cell over the course of years. When he’s done, a massive hole in his cell opens up into a narrow hall of pipes, allowing him to escape to the prison’s sewers, which lead to the outside world and freedom.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo held a press conference on Saturday to address the escape. He said it's the first time anyone has managed to break out of the maximum security section of the prison, which was constructed in 1865, and called the plan "elaborate and sophisticated."
Cuomo added that the escape likely involved power tools that prisoners shouldn't be able to access in the facility.
Viewing the manhole near Clinton County correctional facility as part of seeing how inmates escaped: pic.twitter.com/hCqRljvyL2— Andrew Cuomo (@NYGovCuomo) June 6, 2015
Beyond comparisons to the Oscar-nominated Shawshank Redemption, the prison break is considered to be very serious, as both men were serving time for murder.
At Clinton Correctional Facility, retracing the path inmates took to escape: pic.twitter.com/BXdawRHYXD— Andrew Cuomo (@NYGovCuomo) June 6, 2015
A massive manhunt for Matt and Sweat is under way, with state troopers setting up roadblocks in the nearby village of Dannemora to inspect vehicles, and searching local wooded areas.