IsEscape at DannemoraBased on a True Story? All About the Real Jail Break That Inspired the Miniseries

Mar. 15, 2025

‘Escape at Dannemora’.Photo: Christopher Saunders/SHOWTIME

Though the series debuted on Showtime in 2018, it was added to Netflix in October 2024 and quickly entered the streamer’s Top 10 list. While many details of theBen Stiller-directed crime drama are exaggerated, butEscape at Dannemorais based on the true story of the 2015 Clinton Correctional Facility escape.

Here’s everything to know about the true story behindEscape at Dannemora— and what happened to Tillie’s character in real life.

Who was Richard Matt?

Convicted murderer Richard Matt in 2008.AP

AP

Richard Matt was one of two prisoners who escaped the Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora in 2015.He was arrested in 2008for the 1997 kidnapping and murder of 76-year-old businessman William Rickerson, who fired him.

According to testimony from his accomplice, Lee E. Bates, Matt beat Rickerson unconscious with a knife sharpener. He then wrapped the man in duct tape, tossed him in his truck and drove around for 27 hours before reportedly telling Bates he “had enough of this” and snapped the victim’s neck.

Matt dismembered Rickerson’s body with a hacksaw and dumped him in the Niagara River before fleeing to Mexico. He was extradited to the United States after he stabbed an American outside of a bar and was found guilty of three counts of murder, three counts of kidnapping and two counts of robbery in Rickerson’s death. He was sentenced to 25 years to life.

“There’s no doubt that if he got out, he’d do something,” a juror toldThe Buffalo Newsafter Matt’s sentencing. “It’s sociopathic behavior. He needs to stay in there.”

Who is David Sweat?

Convicted murderer David Sweat in August 2015.AP

David Sweat was serving a life sentence without parole for the 2002 shooting death of a sheriff’s deputy.

To avoid the death penalty, Sweat pled guilty. Deputy Tarsia’s fiancèe, Christi-Ann Ciccone, said during his sentencing that the men who killed her husband did not deserve to live.

“These are not people,” she said, according toABC News. “These are monsters.”

Who is Joyce Mitchell?

Joyce Mitchell.New York State Police Dept.

“Mr. Matt had grabbed me a couple times and kissed me and then there was one point where he had he wanted me to perform [a sex act] on him and I said no. And when I said no, he grabbed my head and pushed me down,” Mitchell said in a 2015 interview with TODAY.

The prison worker admitted to striking up a flirtation with the two convicts and said depression was the reasonshe agreed to aid in the escape. She started bringing the men cookies and brownies and eventually, they asked her for tools. When she refused, Matt allegedly threatened to hurt her husband.

“I was going through a time where I felt like my husband didn’t love me anymore. I guess they saw my weakness,” she told TODAY. “Their attention made me feel good.”

Eric Jensen, an ex-jailmate of Matt and Sweat, told PEOPLE thathe witnessed the interactionsbetween the convicts and the seamstress. Reports confirmed that Sweat was removed from the tailor shop in 2013 after an investigation into an improper relationship with Mitchell.

How did Richard Matt and David Sweat escape?

Mugshots of inmates David Sweat (L) and Richard Matt (R).AP

Matt and Sweat were the first convicts to escape from the Clinton Correctional Facility’s maximum-security area, and they were able to do so with Mitchell’s help.

Mitchell smuggled hacksaw blades, chisels, lighted glasses and drill bits into the prison using frozen hamburger meat. A prison guard namedGene Palmerwas sentenced to six months in jail after he admitted to passing the convicts frozen hamburger meat. He denied knowing that there were blades and tools hidden inside.

When they made their escape, they left a note on their beds for the prison staff. Matt’s read: “You left me no choice but grow old & die here. I had to do something."

Mitchell told police she had originally agreed to pick up Matt and Sweat and take them to Mexico. Matt also allegedly wanted tokill her husband, Lyle Mitchell. The seamstress said the convicted murderer even gave her pills to incapacitate him, but she got cold feet and destroyed them. When their ridefailed to show up, Sweat said they decided to flee to Canada instead.

“We were laughing and joking about how Andy [Dufresne] did it in 20 years,” he said. “I think we might be able to do it in 10.”

What happened to Richard Matt and David Sweat?

David Sweat (R) talks with his lawyer, Joseph Mucia before his court hearing Thursday Aug. 20, 2015 at Clinton County Court in Plattsburgh, N.Y.AP

Sweat remained at large at the time of Matt’s death. He later told police that after two weeks of walking to Canada through the woods, Matt started developing severe blisters on his feet. “Sweat felt that Matt was slowing him down,” Cuomo said. So he left him behind.

According toNBC News, he was sentenced to three-and-a-half to seven years on top of his life sentence.

What happened to Joyce Mitchell and how many years did she get?

Joyce Mitchell (center) during a court appearance in July 2015.AP

Mitchell pleaded guiltyto helping Matt and Sweat escape and was sentenced to a maximum of eight years in prison. She was released from the Bedford Hills Correctional Facility in 2020 after serving over four years and was on supervised release until June 2022.

According toPIX 11, her husband, Lyle, visited her every other weekend for the entire time she was incarcerated.

source: people.com