NEW YORK Authorities hunting for two convicted murderers who staged a brash prison break in upstate New York were questioning a woman who worked at the maximum-security prison, police said on Monday. 
 
 Schools in the rural community surrounding Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora, about 20 miles (30 km) south of the Canadian border, implemented high security as fugitives Richard Matt, 48, and David Sweat, 34, remained on the loose. 
 
 Their escape drew comparisons on social media to the movies "Shawshank Redemption," set at a rural prison, and "Escape from Alcatraz" because they used decoys to trick guards making overnight bed checks. 
 
 To make their escape, the first in the prison's 150-year history, the men cut through the steel walls at the back of their adjoining cells and escaped through a steam pipe. They left behind a note reading "have a nice day." 
 
 A woman who worked in the maximum security prison, where construction was under way, was being questioned by police as a possible accomplice, New York State Police said, confirming a report in the New York Post which cited unidentified sources. 
 
 Earlier on Monday, Governor Andrew Cuomo said investigators were questioning a civilian staff member or contractor who may have helped in the escape, presumably the woman mentioned by police. 
 
 "We're looking at the civilian employees now and the private contractors to see if possibly if a civil employee or contractor was assisting the escape because they wouldn’t have equipment on their own, that's for sure," Cuomo told CNN. 
 
 Scouring the area in a "grid search" on Monday were more than 250 law enforcement personnel including state police with dogs and in aviation units, U.S. Marshals Service, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and New York State Forest Rangers, said Beau Duffy, a state police spokesman. 
 
 New York State Corrections officers manned multiple roadblocks in which cars were stopped and their trunks searched. 
 
 The heightened police presence on one hand helped the community feel safer, but on the other was a constant reminder that peace had been shattered in the town of 4,898 people, where the prison for generations has been the largest employer, residents said. 
 
 "Everbody's got their doors locked, taking extra precautions and looking over their shoulder," said Mark Maggy, 46, co-owner of Maggy Marketplace Pharmacy. 
 
 "I'm just afraid they're gonna do some damage while they're on the run," said Richard Green, owner of Auggy's Pizza Shop. "They could be holed up in town. They could be holding a family hostage. You don't know." 
 
 On the first day of school since the prison break was discovered on Saturday, state police manned every school building in the district and planned to continue the ramped-up security through the week, said a spokeswoman for Superintendent Jonathan Parks. All outdoor activities were canceled. 
 
 "Bus drivers will wait for students who wish to remain inside their houses until busses arrive," Parks said in a statement. 
 
 Police said Matt was serving a sentence of 25 years to life following his conviction in the kidnapping and beating death of his boss near Buffalo, New York, on Dec. 3, 1997. They described him as 6 feet (1.8 meters) tall, 210 lbs (95 kg), with tattoos including "Mexico Forever" on his back and a Marine Corps insignia on his right shoulder. 
 
 He has a long criminal history, including a previous escape from a jail in Erie County in 1986, according to media reports. 
 
 Sweat was serving a sentence of life without parole after his conviction in the shooting death of a Broome County Sheriff's deputy on July 4, 2002. He is 5 feet 11 inches (1.8 meters) tall, 165 lbs (75 kg), with tattoos including "Rebel" on his left arm, police said. 
 
 New York is offering a $100,000 reward for information leading to the apprehension of the men it describes as dangerous and have notified law enforcement in Canada and Mexico about the fugitives. 
 
 Cuomo warned that the pair could have traveled a great distance since escaping: "They could be literally anywhere in the country now. These are really dangerous individuals." 
 
 (Reporting by Barbara Goldberg in New York; Additional reporting by Scott Malone in Boston; Editing by Cynthia Osterman and Lisa Shumaker) ||||| (CNN) An employee at the prison where two convicted killers escaped over the weekend is being questioned as a possible accomplice, a law enforcement source briefed on the investigation told CNN. 
 
 Investigators on Monday questioned the employee, a woman who worked with escaped convicts Richard Matt and David Sweat, tailoring clothing at the Clinton Correctional Facility in New York. 
 
 The woman knows the two escapees "very well," the source said, though she has not been charged or arrested. 
 
 The development comes after New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said inmates Matt and Sweat must have had help in carrying out the intricate plot. The pair, who were in side-by-side cells, used power tools to cut through the cells' steel walls and clambered through a maze of underground pipes, according to authorities. 
 
 "They wouldn't have had the equipment on their own, that's for sure," Cuomo told CNN of the convicted killers, who escaped sometime after they were last seen at bed check Friday night. 
 
 In their place, the pair left decoys to trick guards into thinking they were asleep in their bunks -- and a yellow sticky note with a smiley face . It read, "Have a Nice Day!" 
 
 The two prisoners were in the "honor block" of the prison, meaning they were given certain liberties for good behavior, the law enforcement source said. 
 
 Photos: New York prison escape Photos: New York prison escape Richard Matt, left, and David Sweat were discovered missing on Saturday, June 6, at the 5:30 a.m. "standing count" of inmates at the Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora, New York. Hide Caption 1 of 10 Photos: New York prison escape Gov. Andrew Cuomo, shown during a tour of the prison, said of the escapees: "These are dangerous people. They are nothing to be trifled with." Hide Caption 2 of 10 Photos: New York prison escape The hole the inmates cut into a cell wall to escape. The men had side-by-side cells and apparently had obtained power tools to cut through the steel wall, authorities said. 
 
 Hide Caption 3 of 10 Photos: New York prison escape Looking from the catwalk, this is the hole the inmates cut into the wall. The pair followed the catwalk toward a series of tunnels. Hide Caption 4 of 10 Photos: New York prison escape Gov. Cuomo studies the maze of pipes the prisoners navigated during their escape. Hide Caption 5 of 10 Photos: New York prison escape Cuomo climbs a ladder as he examines the prisoners' escape route. Hide Caption 6 of 10 Photos: New York prison escape Cuomo examines the escape route of the prisoners. "It was elaborate; it was sophisticated," he said. Hide Caption 7 of 10 Photos: New York prison escape The inmates used power tools to drill through steel pipes as they made their escape. Hide Caption 8 of 10 Photos: New York prison escape Gov. Cuomo examines a pipe the inmates cut through. Authorities don't know how the prisoners got the power tools. Hide Caption 9 of 10 Photos: New York prison escape Officials look at the manhole through which the inmates crawled to freedom. Hide Caption 10 of 10 
 
 For the most part they have a clean disciplinary record, according to records provided by a spokeswoman for the Department of Corrections. 
 
 Despite a $100,000 reward and a manhunt involving some 250 law enforcement officials, Matt and Sweat -- both serving lengthy sentences -- were still on the loose Monday. 
 
 "They could be literally anywhere," said Maj. Charles E. Guess of the New York State Police, which is leading the search. 
 
 Cuomo said residents of Dannemora, where the prison is located, should feel safe because of the presence of hundreds of law enforcement officers there. 
 
 Still, students returned to schools Monday amid heightened security after police thoroughly searched every building and bus, Saranac Central School District Superintendent Jonathan Parks said in an email to parents. Police officers were scheduled to be at every school throughout the day, he said. 
 
 Tricking the guards 
 
 People call the Clinton Correctional Facility "Little Siberia." 
 
 That's in part because of its remote location -- in the sparsely populated northeast corner of New York, about 25 miles from the Canadian border. 
 
 And also because it's in a region where wintry weather can persist more than half the year. 
 
 The facility has 2,689 inmates, and two of its most notorious inhabitants were Matt, 49, and Sweat, 35. 
 
 They apparently were last seen at 10:30 p.m. Friday during a standing count -- head counts that are performed every two hours throughout the night when guards visually check to see whether inmates are in their bunks. 
 
 The pair tricked the guards by arranging things in the bunks to look "like people were sleeping ... with these sweatshirt hoodies on," Cuomo said. 
 
 Photo: In the cell of one of escaped inmates, looking at the hole cut in the wall as part of escape pic.twitter.com/tGAtt8xHyb — Andrew Cuomo (@NYGovCuomo) June 6, 2015 
 
 Once they were out of their cells, they then followed a catwalk down an elaborate maze of pipes until they emerged from a manhole outside the prison walls. 
 
 They evaded detection for some seven hours, until the inmate count at 5:30 a.m. Saturday. 
 
 Unanswered questions 
 
 Along with the taunting sticky note, the pair also left a host of unanswered, and uncomfortable, questions for law enforcement. 
 
 How did they get the power tools? How could they have known the layout of the bowels of the old prison? Did they have help from the inside? 
 
 Cuomo, who toured the escape route and announced the $100,000 reward Sunday, said it was possible the tools came from contractors working on the 170-year-old prison. Authorities are also looking at civilian prison employees, he said. But he seemed to rule out the involvement of the prison's certified employees. 
 
 "I'd be shocked if a guard was involved, and that's putting it mildly," he said. 
 
 'Dangerous people' 
 
 The danger the two men pose can't be overstated, officials said. 
 
 Sweat was serving a life sentence without parole in the killing of Kevin Tarsia, a sheriff's deputy, in 2002. 
 
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 Matt was convicted on three counts of murder, three counts of kidnapping and two counts of robbery after he kidnapped a man and beat him to death in December 1997, state police said. He was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison. 
 
 "He has a history," said Gabriel DiBernardo, who led the investigation into the murder for which Matt was convicted. "He broke out of jail before. He is a cunning individual, no question about it, and a vicious individual." 
 
 Sweat is white, 5 feet, 11 inches tall and weighs 165 pounds. He has brown hair, green eyes and tattoos on his left bicep and his right fingers. 
 
 Matt is white, 6 feet tall and weighs 210 pounds. He has black hair, hazel eyes and several tattoos: "Mexico Forever" on his back, a heart on his chest and left shoulder, and a Marine Corps insignia on his right shoulder. 
 
 "These are dangerous people," Cuomo said. "And they're nothing to be trifled with." 
 
 Matt is also well-known to Mexican authorities. In 2007, he was extradited from Mexico back to New York on a decade-old murder charge, documents show. 
 
 With the facility's proximity to Canada, and with Matt's ties to Mexico, authorities on both international borders have been alerted. 
 
 'No stone unturned' 
 
 Officers used roadblocks and bloodhounds and went door to door in their search for the men. They scoured the woods and sifted through the dozens and dozens of tips that came in. 
 
 But so far, no luck. 
 
 They don't know if the pair is still together, had help on the outside, or if the men had access to a vehicle. 
 
 Jonathan Gilliam, a former Navy SEAL, FBI agent, air marshal and police officer, told CNN's "New Day" on Monday that the inmates might have been able to pull off part of the escape by themselves. But he said the presence of power tools and the complicated escape route suggest that they weren't working alone. 
 
 "The combination of all those things is very worrisome for me because that spells help," he said. 
 
 On Sunday, the U.S. Marshals Service issued federal arrest warrants for the escapees. The warrants clear the way for the federal government to involve its considerable resources in the manhunt. 
 
 "Every resource available to us will be used in bringing these two men to justice," said William O'Toole, a U.S. Marshals Service spokesman. 
 
 "We're leaving no stone unturned," Guess of the New York State Police said Sunday. ||||| A female prison worker was interrogated Sunday as a possible accomplice in the Hollywood-style escape of two killers from an upstate penitentiary, sources told The Post. 
 
 “It’s an employee being questioned,’’ a high-level source said, adding that the worker, who is not a guard, had already been yanked from her post. 
 
 Sources said the worker may have been wooed by one of the escaped cons, Richard Matt, 48, an infamous lady killer. 
 
 “He has a way with the ladies,” the source said. 
 
 Another source, retired Detective David Bentley, who helped put away Matt for the 1997 murder of a North Tonawanda businessman, added, “When [Matt’s] cleaned up, he’s very handsome and, in all frankness, very well endowed. He gets girlfriends any place he goes.” 
 
 Authorities said Matt and David Sweat, 34, escaped late Friday or early Saturday, by using power tools from one of several construction sites at the Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora, 20 miles from the Canadian border. 
 
 They cut through a steel wall, broke through two feet of brick and mortar and sliced open a metal pipe before escaping through a street manhole over a mile away. 
 
 They even “had to cut through a steel lock and a steel chain to open up the manhole cover,” Gov. Cuomo said, adding that it could not be opened from the outside. 
 
 Authorities are not dismissing the possibility that there may have been more than one person who helped them, sources said. 
 
 Investigators have divided prison employees into three categories — guards, civilian workers and private contractors, Gov. Cuomo told NBC’s “Today” show on Monday. 
 
 “We’re going through [interviewing] all the civilians and contractors first. I’d be shocked if a corrections guard was involved in this,” Cuomo said. 
 
 “But they definitely had help, otherwise they couldn’t have done this on their own.” 
 
 All of the prison’s tools have been accounted for “so far,” said acting state Corrections Commissioner Anthony Annucci. 
 
 “That seems to point to a contractor leaving their tools,” he said. 
 
 A source said, “There was major construction at the prison — a bunch of work crews for a variety of projects. They are looking into every aspect of these crews, any connections they might have to these two prisoners. Was it a relative or a friend? 
 
 “Look at the cuts that they made in the pipes. They are perfect, clean. That’s not normal — they had some help.” 
 
 The source likened the breakout to Clint Eastwood’s “Escape from Alcatraz,’’ in which his character leaves a dummy in his bed, just as Matt and Sweat did. 
 
 Another source added that the pair “had help on the inside, and they could just have easily had help on the outside.” 
 
 “To do all that, it would have to take weeks, if not months. This was well- planned and thought out for some time.’’ 
 
 The jailbreak occurred Friday into Saturday, when a “family day’’ had been scheduled at the prison, a source noted. 
 
 In a parting shot to prison officials, Matt and Sweat left behind a note with a smiley face that read, “Have a nice day.’’ 
 
 “A little bit of a comedian in them [the escaped cons] but I plan on giving them back that note, ” Cuomo told “Today” on Monday. 
 
 Cuomo, who inspected the escape route, said officials are doing everything possible to prevent another escape but said the first priority is to apprehend the fugitives. 
 
 
 
 “This is a crisis situation for the state,” the governor said Sunday. “These are dangerous men. They’re capable of committing grave crimes once again. We will not rest until we have these two individuals back in custody.” 
 
 The state is offering $100,000 for info leading to the capture of the inmates, or $50,000 for tips leading to each one. 
 
 Cuomo said investigators were sifting through more than 150 leads. Among them, sources said, was a report that men believed to be Matt and Sweat were spotted at 12:30 a.m. Saturday in the backyard of a house near the manhole where they emerged. 
 
 “Hey, what are you doing here?” a man called out before the duo fled. 
 
 The witness did not report the incident to police, but later gave a description that closely resembled the missing men. 
 
 Matt and Sweat were logged as present at the prison Friday night but discovered missing at a 5:30 a.m. bed check Saturday. 
 
 Cuomo said he confronted a couple of inmates about how no one supposedly heard anything while the cons were drilling out. 
 
 “I chatted with a couple of the inmates myself and said, ‘You must be a very heavy sleeper.’ They heard, they had to be heard,” he said on “Good Morning America.’’ 
 
 Sweat, 34, was serving life without parole for the 2002 killing of Kevin Tarsia, a Broome County sheriff’s deputy. Matt, 48, had been sentenced to 25 years to life for kidnapping, killing and dismembering his former boss in 1997. 
 
 Tarsia’s brother, Steven, said the escape has turned his world “upside-down all over again.” 
 
 Additional reporting by Leonard Greene and David K. Li
– Authorities are investigating whether a female accomplice was involved in the escape of two prisoners from a New York penitentiary on Friday or Saturday, police tell Reuters. Officials are talking to a woman who worked at the maximum-security Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemor, NY; she was an employee, not a guard, and has since been fired, the New York Post reports. Sources tell the Post that one of the convicts, 48-year-old Richard Matt, "has a way with the ladies" and "gets girlfriends any place he goes." Earlier today, Gov. Andrew Cuomo told CNN that police were talking to "civilian employees" and "private contractors" to see if anyone aided in the escape, which involved power tools: "They wouldn’t have equipment on their own, that's for sure," he says. Authorities are still searching for Matt and his fellow escapee, 34-year-old David Sweat.