Sweat Gets Out of Hospital and Goes Back to Prison

ByEMILY SHAPIRO ABCNews logo
Sunday, July 5, 2015

After spending one week in hospitals, escaped prisoner and convicted murderer David Sweat was released from the Albany Medical Center this morning and taken to the Five Points Correctional Facility in Romulus, New York, officials said.

Five Points is a maximum-security facility, the Department of Corrections and Community Supervision said today.

Sweat was released from Albany Medical Center at 3:05 a.m., the Department of Corrections said, but the details of his transportation to Five Points were not released because of security reasons.

Sweat will be in the Five Points infirmary during his first 24 hours at the prison, the Department of Corrections said. Sweat will then be housed in a single cell in the Five Points Special Housing Unit. His cell will be in the prison's 23-hour confinement unit, the Department of Corrections said.

Sweat will also be placed on active suicide watch, the Department of Corrections said.

Five Points, which opened in 2000, has 1,294 inmates and has 669 employees, including 511 security staff, the Department of Corrections said. Each cell has a bed, writing platform, toilet, sink and shower.

Romulus, New York, is 200 miles west of the Albany Medical Center and more than 250 miles southwest of the Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora, New York, from which Sweat and fellow convicted murderer Richard Matt escaped June 6.

Sweat had been hospitalized since last Sunday, June 28, after he was shot and wounded by a New York state police sergeant in the area of Constable, New York, about 1.5 miles south of the Canadian border.

New York State Police said Monday the shooting of Sweat by State Police Sgt. Jay Cook was placed under review. Sweat was unarmed but apparently fleeing in violation of Cook's order to stop.

Matt, meanwhile, was shot and killed by authorities two days before Sweat was apprehended.

Matt was serving 25 years to life in prison after he kidnapped and beat a man to death. Sweat was serving a life sentence after he was convicted of killing a sheriff's deputy.

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