Prison employee reportedly confesses to offering to aid escaped convicts

A woman who worked at a New York prison has reportedly admitted she planned to drive the getaway car for two convicts who escaped this week before cracking under pressure and checking herself into a hospital instead.

Joyce Mitchell has been a supervisor at Clinton Correctional Facility for eight years. The New York Daily News reports the 51-year-old worked in the prison tailor shop where Richard Matt and David Sweat spent much of their time sewing uniforms and had access to tools like the ones they used to drill their way out last week. Investigators suspect Mitchell may fallen for one of the escapees.

A retired detective who helped put Matt away in 1997 told the New York Post, "When he's cleaned up, he's very handsome and, in all frankness, very well endowed. He gets girlfriends any place he goes."

According to CNN, Mitchell admitted to investigators that she was going to drive the getaway car when the men came out on the other side but got cold feet. She checked into a hospital for a panic attack the day the men were reported missing.

Mitchell's son told NBC News that people should wait before passing judgment.

"She's not the kind of person who's going the risk her life or other people's lives to let these guys escape from prison. If she was involved in anything you can rest assured that there was a good reason for it and there was more to it than a relationship with an inmate."

Investigators are questioning other employees and private contract workers to find out how Matt and Sweat obtained power tools. A $100,000 reward is offered for any information leading to their arrest.