Honor Block News Today

A group of convicted murderers came together to share knowledge on how to prove their innocence. It took decades, but it worked.

Sweat, who was hiding under a truck, said the deputy opened fire first. then sweat got to his feet and started firing. one of sweats bullets hit tarsia in the stomach, reportedly striking his small intestine and a kidney. as the deputy struggled for his gun, sweat jumped into another vehicle and ran over the deputy, dragging him with the car across the parking lot. he was still alive when one of the other suspects then charged out of the woods, picked up the deputys gun, which he had dropped, an...

Here, prisoners are allowed to congregate for hours with fellow inmates, which may have given matt and sweat the time they needed to plot their escape. >> and there you have one person that you completely trust and that you will do everything with. its called go toe to toe with, go back to back with, knife to knife in the yard. its that one person that if something pops off, you will hold them down. i believe thats the relationship they had after their cells got moved together. >> prisoners hous...

>> and cohen says anything new velazquezs lawyers have might not be enough. >> i dont want to suggest that recantations are nothing, but they are not dna. they are not somebody who you now believe was the actual shooter. you dont have that here. >> for four years, jj has lived in sing sings honor block. and hes been going to school at the prison. >> see what the teacher graded me on? see what the topic was? >> my incarcerations impact on my family. >> right. >> his younger son, jacob, has never ...

Needed to plot their escape. >> and there you have one person that you completely trust and that you will do everything with. its called go toe to toe with, go back to back with, knife to knife in the yard. its that one person that if something pops off, you will hold them down. i believe thats the relationship they had after their cells got moved together. >> prisoners housed in the honor block are also allowed to wear civilian clothing instead of the traditional prison garb, which also may hav...

Processed, charged -- >> right. >> whats the point? >> the point is that david sweat and richard matt committed a crime in clinton county. they committed a crime of escape in the first degree and its my job as the prosecutor in this county to prosecute the people that commit crimes within this county, and that is the bottom line. he committed a crime here in this county, and i am prosecuting him for that crime. >> you said -- >> could he get further punishment behind bars, extra solitary confine...

Inmates we spoke to. certainly, you have to take into account, the roommates making allegations. its very difficult to get confirmation of a lot of things. very difficult to have communication with the department of corrections with various correctional officials at clinton prison. that being said, the allegations are very similar to one another, made from inmates in very different parts of the prison. some on the honor block. some of them in different parts of the prison on different wing who i...

>> please continue. >> and in other complaints were similar to what mike just mentioned to you in terms of being beaten. one individual said they took a plastic bag and tied it around his throat in an attempt to suffocate him. so those are the types of complaints we have been seeing. >> let me jump in. this is what clinton correctional facility, how they responded to your piece. they said the complaints have been referred to the state nft to general. any finding of misconduct will be punished to...

Said you know what waterboarding is?" that was from from patrick alexander kept in the honor block. he goes on to blame a plastic black was placed over his head until he suffocated. this attributed to the "new york times," cnn is working to independently verify these claims. very serious allegations. >> it as hard to do that independent verification. you cant just walk into a prison and interview different inmates to get their stories. but the "times" reporter said his interview spanned geograph...

Hes an inmate on the honor block alongside sweat and matt. >> is it noos possible these prisoners are exaggerating or even lying? >> very good question, carol. however, the reporter behind the "new york times" piece says he saw some physical evidence of injuries on these inmates. because of the separation between them and consistency of their stories, he says they are credible reports. >> we saw some evidence of the injuries to some of the inmates we spoke to. certainly you have to take into acc...