2nd prison worker arrest in US jail break

A SECOND prison worker has been arrested and charged over the escape of two convicted killers weeks ago from a maximum-security New York jail.
POLICE warn escapees Richard Matt, 49, and David Sweat, 35, are likely armed and dangerous.
They used power tools to cut their way out of their cells at the Clinton Correctional Facility before dawn on June 6 in a spectacular prison break likened to a Hollywood movie. Corrections officer Gene Palmer, 57, has been charged with promoting prison contraband, two counts of tampering with evidence and one count of official misconduct, Major Charles Guess of the New York State Police said in a statement on Wednesday. Palmer allegedly helped smuggle tools and other banned items hidden in hamburger meat, said Clinton County District Attorney Andrew Wylie, according to ABC News. Another prison worker, Joyce Mitchell, had already been charged with facilitating the escape by providing hacksaw blades and drill bits to the pair, again hidden in hamburger meat, Wylie told local media. Palmer's lawyer said while the corrections officer delivered the meat to the prisoners, he was not aware the packages were stuffed with contraband items. "Mr Palmer did not know what was inside the package, he had no knowledge beforehand that there were any kind of tools inside," Andrew Brockway told CNN. "The only mistake he made was trusting Joyce Mitchell." Mitchell's husband told NBC News that his wife enjoyed "attention" and attempted kisses from Matt when their marriage hit a rough patch, but said his wife denied having sex with either inmate. The escape sparked a huge manhunt with more than 1000 agents backed by sniffer dogs and helicopters deployed to find the men, who have reportedly been spotted in several locations in recent days in upstate New York. Meanwhile the search continued in a 194 square kilometre area in upstate New York, and authorities said the escapees are probably armed given the surrounding area is so heavily stocked with weapons and ammunition. There is a $100,000 reward for information leading to the men's arrest. Matt, who dismembered his boss, and Sweat, who killed a sheriff, used power tools to cut through cell walls and crawled through pipes to emerge from a manhole in the village of Dannemora, home to the sprawling prison.