Joyce Mitchell, 51, an instructor in the tailor shop at the Clinton Correctional Facility in upstate New York, tearfully pleaded guilty Tuesday to helping prisoners Richard Matt and David Sweat escape. She faces a sentence of 2 1/3 to seven years in prison under terms of a plea deal with prosecutors.
Her lawyer, Stephen Johnston, said Mitchell realizes she made a "horrible mistake" by getting involved with Matt and Sweat, who staged an elaborate escape from the maximum-security prison on June 6.