PLATTSBURGH, N.Y. -- The prison guard charged after the escape of two convicted murderers has been suspended without pay, New York state prison officials said Friday, while a manhunt continued in a vast forested region of hunting cabins and summer camps near the Canadian border.
Gene Palmer's suspension from his $72,644-a-year job comes after he was arrested Wednesday on charges of promoting prison contraband, tampering with evidence and official misconduct.
Palmer has told investigators he provided paint, tools and access to a prison catwalk for Clinton Correctional Facility inmates Richard Matt and David Sweat, who escaped June 6. But the 57-year-old veteran guard says he had no idea they were planning to escape.
A week before the escape, Palmer delivered to Matt a chunk of frozen ground beef that authorities say had hacksaw blades, a screwdriver and other tools hidden inside.
In return, Palmer has said he accepted "elaborate paintings and information on the illegal acts that inmates were committing within the facility." The prison guard is free on $25,000 bail.
Prison tailor shop instructor Joyce Mitchell also has been charged with helping the two men escape.
Sweat, 35, was serving a life sentence without parole in the killing of a sheriff's deputy. Matt, 49, was doing 25 years to life in the kidnapping, torture and hacksaw dismemberment of his former boss.
About 1,100 federal, state and local law enforcement officers are involved in the manhunt.
