Dannemora: Two Escaped Killers, Three Weeks of Terror, and the Largest Manhunt Ever in New York State

In June 2015 two vicious convicted murderers broke out of the Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora, in New York's North Country, launching the most extensive manhunt in state history. Aided by prison employee Joyce Mitchell, double murderer Richard Matt and cop-killer David Sweat slipped out of their cells, followed a network of tunnels and pipes under the thirty-foot prison wall, and climbed out of a manhole to freedom. For three weeks, the residents of local communities were virtual prisoners in their own homes as law enforcement from across the nation swept the rural wilderness near the Canadian border. The manhunt made front-page headlines--as did the prison sex scandal involving both inmates and Joyce Mitchell--and culminated in a dramatic and bloody standoff. Now Charles A. Gardner--a lifelong resident of the community and a former prison guard who began his training at Clinton and ultimately oversaw the training of staff in twelve prisons, including Clinton--tells the whole story from an insider's point of view.

About the Author :
Charles A. Gardner is currently a municipal court judge and retired regional training lieutenant in Malone, New York, the far-upstate town where he was born and raised. His twenty-five-year career in the New York State Department of Corrections included working as a correction officer, sergeant, and lieutenant. He had experience working in medium and maximum-security facilities including stints at Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora and the maximum-security prisons of Sing-Sing, Bedford Hills, Great Meadow, and Upstate. Gardner served on the Department of Corrections' emergency response team (CERT), which played a critical role in the search for the 2015 prison escapees. He lives with his wife Penny and their Samoyeds, Nick and Jewel, in the North Country. Charles A. Gardner is currently a municipal court judge and retired regional training lieutenant in Malone, New York, the far-upstate town where he was born and raised. His twenty-five-year career in the New York State Department of Corrections included working as a correction officer, sergeant, and lieutenant. He had experience working in medium and maximum-security facilities including stints at Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora and the maximum-security prisons of Sing-Sing, Bedford Hills, Great Meadow, and Upstate. Gardner served on the Department of Corrections' emergency response team (CERT), which played a critical role in the search for the 2015 prison escapees. He lives with his wife Penny and their Samoyeds, Nick and Jewel, in the North Country. Jonathan Yen is a commercial voice-over artist and Earphones Award-winning audiobook narrator. He was inspired by the Golden Age of Radio, and while the gold was gone by the time he got there, he has carried that inspiration through to commercial work, voice acting, and stage productions. From vintage Howard Fast science fiction to naturalist Paul Rosolie's true adventures in the Amazon, he loves to tell a good story.