Dannemora by Charles A. Gardner

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Blurb

The Prison Break, the Manhunt, the Inside Story

In June 2015, two vicious convicted murderers broke out of the Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora, in New York’s North Country, launching the most extensive manhunt in state history. Aided by prison employee Joyce Mitchell, double murderer Richard Matt and cop-killer David Sweat slipped out of their cells, followed a network of tunnels and pipes under the thirty-foot prison wall, and climbed out of a manhole to freedom.

For three weeks, the residents of local communities were virtual prisoners in their own homes as law enforcement from across the nation swept the rural wilderness near the Canadian border. The manhunt made front-page headlines—as did the prison sex scandal involving both inmates and Joyce Mitchell—and culminated in a dramatic and bloody standoff.

Now Charles A. Gardner—a lifelong resident of the community and a former correction officer who began his training at Clinton and ultimately oversaw the training of staff in twelve prisons, including Clinton—tells the whole story from an insider’s point of view.

From the lax ethics and sexual hunger that drove Joyce Mitchell to fraternize with Matt and Sweat, smuggle them tools, and offer to be their getaway driver, to the state budget cuts that paved the way for prison corruption, to the brave and tireless efforts to bring the escaped killers to justice, Dannemora is a gripping account of the circumstances that led to the bold breakout and the twenty-three-day search that culminated in one man dead, and one man back in custody—and lingering questions about those who set the deadly drama in motion.

Review

This is a bit of a personal story for me. I’m not from Clinton, I’m from Syracuse. It’s not that far away. I knew a lot of kids from the area, growing up. I spent time there. (I didn’t do time there, but I’m familiar enough with the terrain that I didn’t have to look anything up on a map.)  I remember when this jailbreak happened, not so much because it was only four years ago but because it happened in places I knew, where people I knew and loved could reasonably be expected to go.

Gardner’s narrative is surprisingly sympathetic to the two escapees, at least for the earlier parts of their lives. It’s not surprising that a correctional officer would have some sympathy for children with difficult lives – COs are people, like you and me. They spend hours upon hours locked up with the people they’re guarding. Fraternization is frowned upon, but people are going to converse.

And let’s face it. The natural instinct, when a person is incarcerated, is to escape. A child does it as soon as they figure out there’s something interesting outside of their play pen.

Gardner doesn’t cut them any slack once their choices start hurting other people, nor should he. He is still able to follow their logic well enough to tell the story, which means he has to be able to relate to them. He may not like them or the choices they made, or the impact they had on his community, but he gives us insight into their mindsets nevertheless.

Gardner reserves most of his vitriol, and the bulk of his blame for the whole mess, on Albany. I remember that being the sentiment back home at the time, but that’s kind of how things roll there. It’s part of our morning ritual: roll out of bed, drink coffee, raise a giant middle finger toward Albany, move on with your day. In Dannemora, Gardner outlines the many bureaucratic, political, and human failures that led to several weeks of terror in these remote communities.

He also takes pains to show just how tied into the community the prisons are, and vice versa. Everyone up in that area has at least one family member employed in one of the prisons. They are the major employer, and have been for a long time. People are to some extent prepared for a jail break, but it also makes every prison incident or jail break deeply personal.

Dannemora gives readers an unprecedented amount of insight into an event, an institution, a community, and a system most people prefer not to think about. It’s fascinating in its own right, but as a writer who deals in crime and law enforcement (and sending people into places just like Clinton…) I found it to be an invaluable resource. I might have even already worked some of the building details into a manuscript. You can’t go wrong picking this book up.