it s not a right thing to do in the world we live in jose. we re learning details about the brazen prison break in upstate new york that ended up with one prisoner being shot and killed and the other captured. the surviving prisoner is comparing the escape to a famous escape in one of the movies that was very popular. nbc s tamron hall has more. according to the new york times, david sweat told investigators from his hospital bed how he planned his escape in extraordinarily specific terms, portraying himself as the driving force. according to the report sweat started devising a plan this past winter after he was transferred to a cell next to matt. almost immediately began cutting a hole in the back of his cell using a hacksaw blade. each night sweat would wait until after the 11:30 head count to crawl through the hole shimmy down a series of pipes, going down several stories and roam the tunnels, looking for a way out.
have made to the movie the shawshank redemption. reporter: according to the new york times, david sweat told investigators from his hospital bed how he planned his escape in extraordinarily specific terms portraying himself as the driving force. according to the report sweat started devising a plan this past winter after he was transferred to a cell next to matt. almost immediately he began cutting a hole in the back of his cell using a hacksaw blade. each night sweat would wait until after the 11:30 head count to crawl through the hole shimmy down a series of pipes, go down several stories and roam the tunnels, looking for a way out. he would then return to his cell each morning before the 5:30 a.m. count. he was looking for a way that he could find a weak point, find a place where he would be able to get out. reporter: sweat reportedly had a macgyver-like sense.
escape. it wasn t until he was moved into a cell in january near the now deceased richard matt he moved farward with the plan. the 35-year-old used a hacksaw blade to cut a hole in his cell then the back of matt s. another inmate heard the commotion, but he blamed it on his artwork. he said he used a sledgehammer. that s incredible. reporter: by february sweat says they gained access to the cat walks behind the cells. for months he explored the tunnels beneath the prison from 11:30 at night until 5:30 in the morning. it was made possible because the guards were asleep. the complacency of the guards is unbelievable to me. reporter: sweat says he began chipping away at the outer wall
the hunt for this escape route, confident the guard wouldn t miss him because as you said they were sleeping. he disappeared between the hours of 11. 30. p.m. return by 5:30 in the morning. the times report says at one time sweat was cutting through the concrete wall and he rigged a fan underground to cool himself using electricity from the tunnel s lights. also new information when david sweat got serious about escaping? yeah according to the times he long planned to escape. as we know. he got serious moved next to richard matt s cell in the honor block of the prison the a cell block for prisoners with good disciplinary record. sweat told investigators that s when he used a hacksaw blade at night to cut a hole in his cell then a hole in richard matt s krechlt when cell. when an inmate told matt he heard something from his cell. he said he was stretching canvas on a frame for within of his
reporter: fascinating stuff. the new york times is reporting david sweat wander around the tunnels night after night beginning this winter. he would leave his cell every night on the hunt for the skpap route confident the guards wouldn t miss him because as you said they were sleeping. he would disappear between the hours of 11:30 p.m. and be back by 5:00 in the morning. he somehow rigged a fan underground to cool himself reportedly using electricity anderson from the tunnel s lights. and there is also new information about when david sweat actually got serious about escaping. reporter: he long planned to escape as we know. but he got really serious about it when he was moved light next to richard matt s cell in the honor block, the cell block designed for prisoners with a good disciplinary record. sweat told investigators that s when he used a hacksaw blade at