David Sweat is headed back to prison nearly a month after he and fellow inmate Richard Matt made a stunning escape from the Clinton Correctional Facility in upstate New York.
Sweat, 35, was released Sunday morning from the Albany Medical Center where he was being treated for gunshot wounds to the abdomen sustained during his capture last week. Sweat was released into the custody of the New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision, the hospital said in a statement.
Once he spends a 24-hour stint in the infirmary of the Five Points Correctional Facility in Romulus, Sweat will spend his days confined to a cell for 23 hours a day, according to NBC News.
A string of Clinton Correctional's administrators -- including the prison's superintendent -- have been placed on leave as investigators probe how the convicted killers escaped from the maximum security facility on June 6.
Two prison employees have also been charged in connection with the convicts' escape. Joyce Mitchell, a 51-year-old prison tailor shop employee, is accused of sneaking the inmates hacksaw blades, chisels and other tools to help them escape. Gene Palmer, a 57-year-old prison guard, is accused of smuggling the tools to the inmates in raw hamburger meat.
Matt and Sweat remained on the lam for three weeks before the authorities caught up with them. Matt, 49, was shot and killed by U.S. Border Patrol Agents near the Canadian border. Sweat was captured soon after.
During his recovery at Albany Medical Center, Sweat reportedly cooperated with investigators and shared details of the escape -- including that the convicts performed a "dry run" of their escape before breaking out.
Sweat will be charged with escape in the first degree, though he was already serving a life sentence for murder. Legal analyst Lisa Bloom explained to NBC last week why Sweat is cooperating despite the fact that he'll never taste freedom again:
"Gone are going to be the television, the hot plate, the working in the tailor shop," Bloom said. "Those privileges, if he wants to get any of those back, if he wants to get out of administrative segregation -- solitary confinement -- he has a little bit to work with there in terms of bargaining."
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