By Joe LoTemplio
Press-Republican
PLATTSBURGH — The Clinton Correctional Facility correction officer placed on administrative leave last week is a 28-year veteran who is respected by his peers.
Last Friday, the State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision said an unidentified correction officer was placed on administrative leave as part of the investigation into the escape of Richard Matt and David Sweat.
The Press-Republican was told Saturday that the CO is Gene Palmer, who works on the Honor Block and is well-liked and respected by his peers.
Contacted Saturday, DOCCS spokeswoman Linda Foglia would not confirm his name nor give any additional information.
Palmer has not been charged, and District Attorney Andrew Wylie would not talk Sunday about that aspect of the investigation.
The correction officer’s attorney, Andrew Brockway, could not be reached on Sunday but told CNN that Palmer was cooperating with police, was “surprised and scared” about the escapees and was “trying to do the best job he could.”
He said Palmer hopes his information, gleaned from daily contact with Matt and Sweat on the Honor Block, will be helpful to police.
Palmer could not be reached by the Press-Republican on Sunday.
As for the fugitives, Brockway said, “these two are psychopaths; they’re master manipulators.”
Only one person has been arrested in connection with the escape.
A supervisor in the prison tailor shop where both escapees worked, Joyce Mitchell, 51, of Dickinson Center, has been charged with assisting Sweat and Matt by slipping them hacksaw blades, chisels, a punch and a screwdriver bit.
She was charged Friday, June 12, with first-degree promoting prison contraband, a felony, and fourth-degree criminal facilitation, a misdemeanor.
Additional charges against her are being considered.