Woman who helped 2 killers escape says she was depressed (VIDEO)

PLATTSBURGH, N.Y. (AP) — The former New York prison employee who helped two killers escape from a maximum-security prison says she was depressed at the time and the inmates took advantage of what she called her "weakness."

In the first of a two-part jailhouse interview aired Monday morning on NBC's "Today" show, Joyce Mitchell says she cooperated with Richard Matt and David Sweat's demands for help because Matt had threatened members of her family.

The 51-year-old Mitchell gave Matt and Sweat tools they used to break out of Clinton Correctional Facility near the Canadian border on June 6.

A federal officer fatally shot Matt on June 26, and a trooper wounded Sweat two days later.



Mitchell pleaded guilty in July to promoting prison contraband.

Part two of the interview will be aired Friday morning.