Former prison seamstress Joyce Mitchell has spoken out about her role in a brazen escape plot, saying she started a torrid affair with a convicted murderer and helped him and another inmate break free this summer because of her struggle depression. Mitchell, 51, who has pleaded guilty for her role in the so-called 'Shawshank' prison break in upstate New York, broke her silence about the case for the first time in an exclusive NBC interview that will air in its entirety next week. The disgraced prison worker recently sat down with Today Show host Matt Lauer in Clinton County Jail where she is awaiting sentencing for helping inmates Richard Matt and David Sweat escape Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora in early June.Joyce Mitchell sat down with Matt Lauer in Clinton County Jail where she is awaiting sentencing for helping inmates escapeMitchell, 51, said her lover Richard Matt had complete control over her, even though she has always loved her husband, LyleMitchell pleaded guilty in July to helping Matt and David Sweat break out of an upstate New York prison by providing them with toolsMitchell blamed her involvement in the case on her struggle with depressionNBC interview with Mitchell will be shown in its entirety on Today Show and Dateline next week
Sitting opposite _ in striped prison jumpsuit and handcuffs on her wrists, a downcast Joyce Mitchell insisted that she stills loves her husband, Lyle, whom Matt and Sweat dubbed 'the glitch' and planned to assassinate with his wife's aid on the night of the prison break, according to her own statements to police.