A prosecutor says the inmate captured 22 days after breaking out of a northern New York prison claims to have used no power tools in the breakout, contrary to official accounts from soon after the June 6 breakout at the maximum-security Clinton Correctional Facility.
Clinton County District Attorney Andrew Wylie, who will prosecute Sweat for the escape said Tuesday that David Sweat told investigators from his hospital bed that he started cutting through steel cellblock walls in January using only a hacksaw blade.
Wylie said Sweat told police he had access to a catwalk area in the prison bowels for several weeks before escaping.
Authorities have said Sweat and inmate Richard Matt used power tools taken from contractors' toolboxes.
Matt was fatally shot Friday afternoon. Sweat is recovering after a state trooper shot him on Sunday. The Albany Medical Center said Tuesday that Sweat is in fair condition
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