Prosecutor: N.Y. prison worker hid tools in meat to get them to convicts

Joyce Mitchell, accused of assisting convicts David Sweat and Richard Matt in their escape from a New York prison, smuggled tools embedded in meat through the main gate at Clinton Correctional Facility, and placed the meat in a freezer in the tailor shop, according to Clinton County District Attorney Andrew Wylie.

She then asked corrections officer Gene Palmer to bring it to the inmate's cell area in the honor block, Wylie said.

Mitchell admitted to putting hacksaw blades and drill bits into a hunk of hamburger meat, according to the prosecutor. Palmer could have put it through metal detector but he didn't, which was a violation of prison policy, Wylie said.

Mitchell did not have access to the cells, which is why she needed Palmer to hand it off, according to the prosecutor.

CNN first broke the news Tuesday of the tools frozen in meat.

Palmer's attorney Andrew Brockway told Anderson Cooper Tuesday, "Before he handed off the meat, he asked if there was anything wrong with it and she said no," he said.

Palmer did not know what was inside the package, Brockway said, adding, "The only mistake he made was trusting Joyce Mitchell."

Wylie said prosecutors also believe Palmer didn't know.

Mitchell, who has been charged with aiding the escapees, has admitted she smuggled hacksaw blades into the meat, an official told CNN earlier.

At the time of their escape, Matt, 48, and Sweat, 35, were housed next to each other on the prison's honor block, which awarded inmates who showed good behavior special privileges such as having hot plates and refrigerators in their cells.

The two convicts cut holes through steel cell walls, then sneaked along catwalks and through pipes before clambering out of a manhole beyond the prison gates and disappearing June 6. The vast manhunt for them is now in its 19th day.

Police trying to close the net in manhunt

The new revelations come as authorities chase the most promising lead yet in the manhunt for the pair. DNA from Matt and Sweat was found in a burglarized cabin not far from the prison, a law enforcement source told CNN.

Personal items, including boots, were discovered Saturday inside the cabin in Mountain View, some 20 miles west of the prison, another law enforcement source briefed on the investigation told CNN's Deborah Feyerick.

The items left behind, and the manner in which they were left, suggest the pair were surprised and left in a hurry, according to the source.

The boots left in the cabin suggest one of the fugitives may be barefoot, the source said, possibly hindering his ability to move through the dense brush. But there may have been other boots and shoes in the cabin that were taken by the pair.

Franklin County Sheriff Kevin Mulverhill told CNN that the search area is centered in Bellmont, New York, and covers roughly 170 square miles. Authorities have flooded the area with helicopters, cruisers and all-terrain vehicles.