Wild Escape: The Prison Break from Dannemora and the Manhunt that Captured America

by Chelsia Rose Marcius

On June 6, 2015, inmates Richard Matt and David Sweat escaped from New York State’s largest maximum security prison, Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora. The media became instantly obsessed with the story: two convicted murderers sliced their way through the brick and steel wall of their cells, meandered through a maze of tunnels, popped out of a manhole, and walked off into the night. Only a handful of inmates had successfully broken out of Clinton since the facility opened in 1845, and not many have made the attempt. Barbed wire, concrete walls, and the wilderness of the Adirondacks all serve as physical and psychological barriers to freedom. The seemingly impossible Shawshank-esque escape had the makings of a Hollywood film, and the public hung on to every twist and turn in the developing plot.

After nearly three weeks on the run, U.S. Customs and Border Patrol agent Christopher Voss shot and killed Matt June 26, 2015. Two days later New York State Police Sgt. Jay Cook shot Sweat twice in the back. He survived. While we have come to learn how Matt and Sweat pulled off perhaps the most elaborate modern day prison break, no reporter, except Chelsia Rose Marcius, has talked directly to Sweat to ask perhaps the most important question in the case: Why?

Genres: True Crime, Nonfiction, History, Crime, Mystery, Audiobook, Biography

284 pages, Paperback

First published February 13, 2018

About the author

Chelsia Rose Marcius is a staff reporter at the New York Daily News. She has covered some of the biggest national stories of the last five years, including the mass shooting in Las Vegas, N.V.; the marathon bombing in Boston; the Ariel Castro kidnappings in Cleveland; the Pulse shooting in Orlando; and the Sandy Hook school shooting in Newtown, C.T. She has done a number of media appearances with MSNBC, BBC Radio, Inside Edition, and others. Her work has also appeared in The New York Times and the Chicago Sun-Times.

Chelsia is an adjunct professor at New York University, where she also holds a master's degree in Journalism. She earned her bachelor's degrees in Journalism and International Studies from Loyola University Chicago.

Wild Escape: The Prison Break from Dannemora and the Manhunt that Captured America, is her debut book.

Reviews

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rich in details; Wild Escape is a true crime debut by staff reporter Chelsia Rose Marcius. After following this story in the news and viewing the Showtime series Escape From Dannemora, I knew how it ends. This book filled in a lot of blanks. Marcius interviewed surviving inmate Sweat, over an almost two year period. It was exclusive access, no other reporter was granted. She also did exhaustive research with anyone involved in the case. This is evident in how smoothly and accurately the narrative flows throughout. True crime writing at it's best reads like a novel. Marcius accomplished this without compromising on content.

[Valerity (Val) · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed this fairly fast read about the escape of two men who used a female prison employee to help them break out from Clinton prison in upstate New York. The book eventually came to be written much afterward by the author with the help of one of the escapees who survived it. It is exciting, filled with inside details that could only be told by one who was there from the beginning and made it through the entire ordeal. It's perfect for the true crime reader who enjoys non-fiction narratives and may remember some of when this story was in the headlines involving a married female employee that was charged in the escape plot who was also caught.

An advance digital copy was provided by NetGalley, Chelsia Rose Marcius, and Diversion Books for my honest review. The publication date is Feb. 13, 2018

[Courtney · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sped through this book in a day. Marcius’ literary nonfiction writing is riveting and hard to put down. This book is a fast, but detailed, depiction of the famous prison escape in the small town that is Dannemora. Even the footnotes include the smallest details, including disparities between what Sweat said versus what the official report said; in these situations, I am glad Marcius went with what Sweat said since his word holds more weight than a paper written after-the-fact. It’s sad how close Sweat got; a large part of me wishes he didn’t get caught.... I wish there were more details on Joyce Mitchell, but if she didn’t talk to Marcius then there is only so much to be said. Love this book and can’t wait to read it again.

[Betzy Nichols · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ok read

Not completely accurate. I live in Malone and from your descriptions of days 20-22 sweat couldn't have done what did and ended up on Finney Road, Burke. Not a bad recount but doesn't come close to the emotions of that time

[Neddy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Poorly executed.

[Michael Campbell · Rating 1 out of 5]

Here is my short review...I'm glad I borrowed this and didn't buy it. Read the other reviews and you'll get a good idea of what to expect. If you live in the area this occurred and have some knowledge about it, the book is terrible. If you go into it not knowing anything more than what you got from the internet and possibly the news, its passable. Simply stated, this is David Sweat fan-fiction. More in depth review to follow...

This is my review so obviously it is my opinion, however, much of my opinion that follows is based in fact, unlike a lot of this book and I feel like I did more research for this review than the author did for the book. That being said, the author should be proud. She wrote a book and got it published, something not just anyone could do. The book reads like it was written by a liberal journalist who puts all of the corrections system and probably law enforcement in the same category as the worst of those who do the job. She's the only reporter who Sweat would talk to. I'm curious how many he turned down, maybe quite a few, I don't know. The author mentions how the incident revealed a culture of complacency and corruption in Clinton Correctional. Based on what...the actions of an officer and a civilian employee and on the word of an escaped inmate and probably a few that did their time and got out. Well don't forget the official report about the escape, which certainly had no reason to find problems within the facility rather than problems with the "brass" working in Albany.

First off, the introduction gave me an idea of where the book was heading. I immediately got the impression that the author thought rather highly of herself, which isn't a terrible thing but doesn't give me a good feeling from the start. The author states she "..did not take liberties with the facts for the sake of good story telling." and "I did not resort to creative license." However, there were several times that she used wording that could hardly be described as everyday talk and certainly reeked of creative license and taking liberties with what actually happened. Just one example, when Joyce Mitchell was reacting to the clock turning midnight when "Invisible fingers clutched the hollow cavity around her heart, filling her soul with renewed fear." Yeah, I'm sure that's exactly what she was thinking at that moment.

Moving on...there were so many mistakes in this book that, with even a little research, should not have happened. Nothing major if you don't know any different, but considering how highly she speaks of her research and abilities, I expected better. I'll touch on just a few. The author talked about how when Sweat and Matt came out of the manhole that two miles away at Alice Hyde Medical Center, Joyce Mitchell was being treated for a panic attack. Just look at a google map and you'll see that AHMC is 30 miles straight-line distance from the manhole cover and about 40 miles and almost an hour drive from Dannemora to AHMC. That's pretty tough to find out though. I've got a few issues with inaccuracies that could be fixed by looking at a map. Speaking of that, she writes about them following the County Route around Chazy...not sure what she talking about there. I think she's talking about State Route 374 (Cook Street) but its hard to tell.

I think putting Lou Ann Nielson, a random hospital working who lives in Dannemora, in the book is good, it at least tries to provide more of a real feeling and how it was for regular folks to live through it instead of just a "let's feel sorry for David Sweat" type of read, but then she talked about how Ms. Nielson's housemate can't talk because the "BCI" is there, like it was some big dramatic moment. The author describes the BCI as assisting local law enforcement with major crimes. Simple research would tell her that the BCI is the primary investigative unit for most crimes in the north country. If someone breaks into your garage and steals a chainsaw, guess what, the BCI is getting involved. Also, apparently Ms. Nielson drives a blue Honda Highlander...maybe its because the author lives in NYC and takes public transportation everywhere, but that vehicle doesn't exist. Again, simple research.

The author's suggestion, based on her interviews with Sweat, I imagine, that they are heading for Route 11 and going to follow that to the highway and head south, seems a bit far-fetched. One of the busiest roads, if not the busiest U.S. Highways in the north country and they're just going to stroll along south?

Her description of Cuomo strolling down the cellblock and looking into the cells on his right is inaccurate, unless he closed his eyes walking down the block initially then turned around and started looking, because the cells would be on his left as you enter the tier and move toward the cells. Her complete absence of criticism of Cuomo taking advantage of the situation on day one for his photo-op and not taking into consideration that he went into the scene before forensic investigators were able to get in, was telling. Not to mention his use of it for camera time the entire time it was going on.

Map-reading 101, she wrote about the perimeter that was set up bordered by State Route 374, Bucks Corners Road and Route 30...nope, it was State Route 3. Route 30 is over by Malone, but maybe it was a typo.

Then she gets into Joyce Mitchell's background and how she dropped out of St. Regis Falls High School and went 20 minutes south to work at Tru-Stitch. Well if she went 20 minutes south of St. Regis Falls, she's in the middle of the woods in the Adirondack Park. I think the author meant Mitchell went 20 minutes north to Bombay where the factor was actually located. Again, hard research.

The author talks about how Matt removed the SIM card from the trail camera at one of the camps (the big marijuana growers). I'm confident that the SIM card had nothing to do with connecting to the internet so the owners could monitor what was going on at the camp when they weren't there. Unlikely there was enough of a cellular signal or wifi internet at the camps in that area to facilitate that. I'd be willing to bet, without interviewing Sweat, that the card was removed so the owners wouldn't have any photographs of the escapees. Again, tough for an experienced journalist writing about bad cops and corrections to research that.

Same camp, one of the men that showed up "...leaned in the vehicle and grabbed his pump action shotgun.", which I imagine probably happened given the area. However, five pages later Sweat reminisces about that incident and the gun become a "bolt-action rifle". Hard to mistake one from the other, especially when you are writing it.

Later as she describes the incident where Matt is encountered, fails to drop his weapon, points it at Federal Law Enforcement and gets shot, she describes the BORTAC Agent's actions stating he "..drew his M4 and fired.", not accurate at all, that's not how an M4 works. But she doesn't miss a beat when discussing Matt's demise with one of his "friends". Gotta get it in there that they didn't have to shoot him so many times.

What's with the Michael McCaffrey connection? Is the author related? Does her paper not provide her with lodging when she gets sent somewhere to cover a story or did I misunderstand and she stayed there while "researching" for this book? Either way, that was just random and weird.

I question her description of when Sgt Cook and Sgt White were searching the residence and split up, then encountered each other "surprisingly" between bedrooms. Tactically not the way the training goes and unlikely either of them would place each other in that situation. Maybe though...

There are quite a few more examples, but since this is just a venting session for me and doubtful anyone will read this, I'll stop there.

Last thing, what's with the cover. New York State Police wear the Stetson, not a Biltmore Mountie hat. Simple research.

Again, this reads like David Sweat fan-fiction and even though the author states many times that she, and Sweat, were not trying to make excuses for his actions, that was the way a lot of it came off. Find a different book about the escape, this one, so far, is the worst one I've read. But there's hope, I haven't read Major Guess' yet. I'm not expecting much there.

[Chris Witkowski · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a straightforward account of the incredible escape from Dannemora Prison of David Sweat and Richard Matt in June, 2015. Written by a reporter for the New York Daily News, the book follows the ill fated escape, and provides some background on the sorry life of Sweat. Not a great piece of writing (in fact, the number of typos is startling - no editor?) but the fascinating story makes up for it. Now I am just waiting for the movie that is in the works to come out.

[Faith]

Very intriguing to hear more of the details that we never got! A part of me wishes he made it to freedom, but that could’ve been the result of a slight bias in the writing.
However, reading this really showed that correctional facilities should be closely monitored for breaking of the rules and laws by employees

[Derek Falkowsky · Rating 3 out of 5]

Easy read and fairly interesting story. Its a good book to read inbetween heavier reads. I think I may have seen soo many episodes of I Almost Got Away With It that I wasn't all that impressed by the escape and attempt to flee from law enforcement.

[Neil Evans · Rating 5 out of 5]

In the tradition of In Cold Blood, this non-fiction narrative follows the twenty-three day’s between the prison break and the capture of David Sweat. The author is the only journalist to interview Sweat and she writes in explicit detail about the period the two escapees were on the run and the manhunt by over a thousand law enforcement officials. It’s obvious the author was obsessed with these prisoners and the events and her obsession is contagious. There’s a certain immediacy to her writing since the book was published within about 18 months of the escape and capture.

[Jill Crosby · Rating 1 out of 5]

I think Chelsea Rose Marcius got in over her head in being the only writer/journalist to be granted an interview by grand-theft committing, cop-killing, prison-breaking Dannemora convict, David Sweat. Of course Sweat, a sociopath of the most obvious order, would agree to allow Marcius a young, attractive big city writer to visit him in order to “tell his story.” Unwittingly, she DOES tell Sweat’s entire story, which has her shading events to Sweat’s benefit, making sure all of his good points made it onto the page (forget that he backed a truck into a gun store window on a 4th of July night, then shot and ran over a deputy cop when approached. Never mind that, or the fact that he’d just gotten out of jail for another string of robberies.) Sweat was the brains, the athlete, the director. He, along with fellow escapee Richard Matt felt they had “given prison enough of their lives” (um, WHAT?) and wanted to “start fresh in a new country.” It’s Sweat that acts as the conscience of the pair as they have several opportunities to shoot their stalkers but opt not to.

It’s pointed out several times that the prison guards and administration were the ones acting in a criminal manner by dictating activities, using force to keep a convict in line, being dismissive or cruel to convicts with problems (excuse me—IT’S PRISON), and it’s their government sanction criminal behavior that “made” Sweat & Matt escape. In Sweat’s world, it’s always someone else’s fault. He’s a victim of the system, of fate, of society. And Chelsea Rose Marcius is there to capture it all, and dutifully reports her findings to us without so much as a hint of irony.

I had gone into this book hoping for some more objective reporting on the escape—what I got was an apologetic aimed at making me second-guess the incarceration of a cop killer. Mission not accomplished

[teleri · Rating 2 out of 5]

On June 6, 2015, inmates Richard Matt and David Sweat escaped from New York State’s largest maximum security prison, Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora.

This book was nothing more than okay, although it started out differently. Despite its constant merry go round theme, reading about them on the run interested me. Hearing about what Matt and Sweat got up to whilst they were on the fun was hooking, no matter how many cabins they broke into. I loved it. Things started to go downhill when the author dragged out the history of Sweat, at least that's what it felt like to me. Every few chapters were separated by Sweat's history from the beginning of his life, and although that can be interesting when done right, cough The Innocent Man by John Grisham cough, this author didn't really pull it off. I was bored, I wanted to hear about them breaking into cabins, and how far away from the police they were, but instead, it was let down a lot by unnecessary chapters, especially the ending.

I would have been fine with the book ending after Sweat gets arrested, and we get a keyword little "here's the aftermath for all those involved" but instead the author seemed to do an essay for everyone involved and it was draining and boring. She could have easily ended it a handful of times before she actually did, shame.

[Jill Talley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not the greatest. But - not the worst. If there were half-stars available, i would've given it 2.5.

I thought it was well-written, and gave a lot of info - much of what i was looking for. For personal reasons i really wanted to find out much more about this prison break, and Joyce Mitchell.

But WTS, it did seem a lot like David Sweat Fan-fiction (as another reviewer said). It definitely made him out to be very intelligent, having a troubled childhood, and being a caring person now and stopping Richard Matt from committing more harm when he could... Don't get me wrong, there were small amounts written about his "bad points," but the more i read, the more i could feel down inside that the book definitely had a slant toward "oh poor David Sweat." I actually would have warmed toward it more if it was leaning toward poor Joyce Mitchell... she never killed anyone.

I'm a flaming liberal and love to find out why people are in prison, and why they do what they do. I am sorry he had to go thru what he had to in his childhood. But this book almost made him a hero in my eyes. Just my opinion. Like i said, i learned a lot about the break-out and the following days, and about David Sweat. I wish i had learned more about Joyce, and even Richard Matt, and i'll look for another book.

[Jim · Rating 1 out of 5]

I hope this is not considered to be "the" book on the 2015 Clinton Correctional Facility escape, because it is sorely lacking in a few key areas.

First, the book is centered around only one of the 2 escapees, inmate Sweat, whose life story is brought out in chunks, every few chapters, culminating with the heinous crime he committed that landed him behind bars for life. And, that sole focus on only one of the three participants leads to the next dilemma.

We learn very little about the other 2 parties in the escape. Inmate Matt's story and background are barely investigated; the details of his passing are also not discussed in any detail. As for the prison seamstress who helped facilitate the escape, little of her background is discussed at length, and her activities after being arrested & arraigned aren't discussed at all. She disappears from the book early on, and then briefly appears again right at the tail end.

Finally, there are plenty of references in the book to specific geographic locations in northern New York state, none of which I had a clue as to where they may be located; maps to provide some geographic reference for the reader are sorely needed.

I was really looking forward to reading this book, and am terribly disappointed.

[Lozzi Counsell · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked how although this book is based on real events, it is set out to be like an informative story. I have read others that are more purely informative and these ones have bored me, so it was a relief to find a book that I could learn from whilst also enjoy (as I'm very much into crime.) I hadn't actually heard of this prison escape before, although not sure why. I wonder if it's due to the fact I live in England, as it wouldn't have really affected us over here or maybe it's the fact I don't read newspapers or watch The News. The personalities of the two escapees was shown really well and I enjoyed following them on their escape. I also felt a lot of sympathy for Sweat - from reading this you can see that he's not a bad guy, he just made very bad choices and although I knew he was recaptured before reading this, I may at times have been silently hoping for him to make it. I'm glad that other people involved were also written about to give you the whole story but in the sense of purely the information you need, which was cut precisely before it would have started to get boring.

[Charity · Rating 5 out of 5]

Given that the author, Chelsia Rose Marcius, interviewed one of the escapees, I wondered how accurate it would be. For example, how could David Sweat, the escapee who lived through the escape, remember where exactly he'd been and how things had actually gone down? It happened over a number of weeks and there were A LOT of details!

What I learned, however, is that when the author would finish a chapter (or several), there were members of law enforcement who had participated intimately in the manhunt, who would go over the manuscripts and check them for accuracy and add detail. Between Sweat's account and the contributions of all the other people involved in the story (beginning from the early planning stages of the escape all the way up to the capture), I think this is an accurate, complete account of this event.

[Tammy Adams · Rating 3 out of 5]

I would’ve given this 4 stars but for a few reasons. First, it was a fast-paced and interesting read up until the men were caught. The climax of the story seemed pretty anticlimactic the way it was written. Secondly, I could’ve done without the flashbacks to David’s earlier life. They didn’t seem to advance the story and I found it odd that there was a back story of Sweat but not on Matt. I think both or neither would be better. Lastly, I was very disappointed and confused that there were no pictures! What was up with that? I like faces to go with the names when I’m reading a true story. Including pictures of the escapees, the ones who helped them, the police officers, the prison, maps of the area, at least some of the places they stayed, etc should have been a no- brainer.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was a fast read and was pretty exciting. It tells the story of the Clinton prison break almost exclusively from David Sweat’s point of view, and as a result, it’s biased in Sweat’s favor. I think I would have had more respect for the book if it spent more time on broader issues like the culture at Clinton or the impact of a three-plus week prison break on Dannemora. Although the book seems well-researched, it is hard to view it as a credible piece of investigative writing. Still, it was an interesting story.

[Lorie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good read

This book provides a rare glimpse inside the mind(s) of criminals as well as the inside workings of a prison that had remained largely invisible to the public, until this prison break. I've always held a certain fascination with prisons and criminals, no doubt due to living in proximity to one where I grew up.

I'm no bleeding heart but I can't help but feel compassion for Sweat. He was dealt a dirty hand in life and never overcame his problems. If he'd left his partner once outside of prison, he may very well have made it to Mexico!

[Fredrick Danysh · Rating 3 out of 5]

In June 2015, two inmates escaped from Clinton Correctional Facility in New York State. After three weeks, one was dead and the other recaptured. Assigned to cover the escape for her newspaper, the author did extensive research and interviews with the surviving escapee to piece together the whys and how of the story. A good read on crime and the penal system. This was a free advance read copy through Goodreads.com.

[Karole Petty · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyed the book and the author did a diligent job checking the facts that were told to her by Sweat but, I felt she was a little bias toward Sweat. We have no way of knowing if what the interactions between him and Matt were while they were "on vacation" as Matt is not alive to either confirm or deny . Over all I would recommend the book as the author was very thorough as laying out the timeline of events for all involved.

[Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

A solid, ambitious work of original reporting, with an engaging narrative that flits back and forth between the escapees in the present and past. I met the author at a criminal justice journalists' conference and decided to read this partly to support my fellow writer and because I followed this case closely and wondered what she might bring to the story that I didn't know. I came away impressed with her reporting and storytelling chops.

[Lori · Rating 5 out of 5]

The author did a great job researching the prison break at Clinton Correctional in 2015. For those of us who experienced it sitting glued to the TV day after day, the book added the many details we wanted to hear. Knowing this area well, the book was respectful and captured the essence of an area caught in the glare of National and international media.

[Roy · Rating 4 out of 5]

The author is a reporter, so this is written from that perspective. Some literary flair, but not much. She's not Stephen King, and did not try to write a novel here. Very fact based, but still interesting, gripping enough, and enlightening. I'd recommend it, and then after reading it, see the TV miniseries.

Very quick read. I actually liked the short chapters.

[Kimberle V · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gene Palmer A coward and a Fraud!

Honestly, The CO’s
especially Gene red faced palmer. He knew exactly what he was doing. He thought Matt and Dave were his tuff prion buddies to protect him. You fools Gene!They all laughed at you, you were their spineless little bitch they used as a-puppet. Stop making excuses you are just as bad as the inmates!!.

[Peg · Rating 4 out of 5]

Didn't want to put it down because it was so well written. Author got first hand account of the convicts time on the run in the mountains, after escaping from Dannemora, making that the best part of the book.

[Tracey Kyle · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars: There’s a lot of typos in the Kindle edition. ANNOYING. It’s an easy book to read and I finished it in 2 days. But the author is almost too objective and there was something about the tone of the book that I found unsettling.

[Nick Joyce · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic read, a complete page turner.

[Mary Jo Lazzaro · Rating 5 out of 5]

Couldn't stop reading!

Superb writing and research on this true event.
If you enjoy reading about true crime, this book is worth the read.

[Kenny Payne · Rating 4 out of 5]

This a pretty cool story but could of have been much better by someone else.