An ex-con on how intelligence and street smarts equal a successful prison escape

More than 800 law enforcement officers around the country continue to search for Richard Matt and David Sweat, two convicted murderers who escaped from an upstate New York prison on June 6.

Meanwhile, their alleged accomplice, prison employee Joyce Mitchell, remains behind bars after pleading not guilty to felony charges on Friday.

Court documents say she provided the men with hacksaw blades, chisels, a punch and a screwdriver bit that they used to break out of prison and pop up through a man hole on the street. Mitchell was supposed to pick them up at the manhole and drive them seven hours, but she got cold feet and never showed up.

To get some perspective on how Matt, 48, and Sweat, 35, pulled off their plan, I spoke with Larry Lawton, ex-con and founder of the Reality Check program. Lawton lived in many maximum security prisons from 1996 to 2007.

“I was the biggest jewel robber in the United States with organized crime,” Lawton said. “I robbed between $15 and $18 million. I went to prison for four, 12 year sentences. I ended up getting out and helping young people. I’m the only ex-con in the United States who has been sworn in as an honorary police officer and the only ex-con in the United States recognized on the floor of United States Congress.”

Lawton says inmates have a ton of time on their hands. That combined with intelligence and MacGyver-like street smarts can lead to a successful escape.

“It wasn’t as shocking to me,” he said. “I think there’s going to be a lot of mistakes that were made on the prison’s part, not only with that lady. I think there’s more people involved as well. But I was in one prison, we had 2,000 inmates. Eight-hundred-and-eighty had life sentences.

“That’s all they think about is escape, trying to get out,” Lawton said. “Some of them have high IQs. This man, Matt, had, I think, a 138 IQ. Highly intelligent, manipulative and he doesn’t fear prison. So that is something they don’t have over him. And he don’t wanna go back, so now he’s ready to do what he has to do to stay out.”

And so far he is staying out. Lawton is sure that these men concocted an elaborate hideout plan before they escaped.

“Absolutely, these people are survivalists,” he said. “We’re talking about men that know how to make rope out of nothing, can survive with the clothes on their back. It’s amazing what you learn to do in prison. It’s more about the mental aspect of it, what you can do with your brain, how to stay calm, how to stay patient, how to figure out problems with absolutely nothing.

“You learn a lot of patience so you learn a lot of mind games in prison that are very good for survival,” Lawton added.

Lawton says he could create fire in his cell using a Hershey’s bar and a battery, without a match or a lighter. He could make rope out of prison issued underwear.

“We’d get razor blades off a razor they give you to shave. The guards check to see that you give back the razor so you don’t steal the razor blade. But we would take a piece of paper out of a magazine, that’s very gloss, it’s got a silver in it, and make a copy of the razor blade and put it in that razor and it looks like the blade is still in there. And we would keep the razor blade.”

Officials think Mitchell’s relationship with Matt and Sweat began in 2013 and she has said they made her feel “special.”

“It’s very, very common for guards and inmates to actually get relationships where they’ll bring things in. Whether it’s alcohol, whether it’s a cell phone, drugs. And sexual relationships do go on,” Lawton said. “You know, there’s an old saying, there’s a very fine line between an inmate and a guard and they do walk that line. To the point of actually bringing in saw blades and stuff like that. They got into this lady pretty deep. In my opinion, I think they would have killed her once they got done with her. If she took them on the road and drove them somewhere, I think they would have killed her.”

Lawton says the general public completely underestimates the intelligence and survival skills of a criminal.

“They can hide under a truck for two days with half of a Snickers bar and come out smelling like a rose. There’s an old saying, ‘you set a convict naked in Iowa and he’ll end up in a three-piece suit in New York in three days.’ They’re cunning, they’re quick thinkers, they’re people who think on their feet. If you can survive in a violent environment like prison, you can survive anywhere.”