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'You know what waterboarding is?': New York prison reportedly brutalized inmates to get info about 2 escaped murderers

Aug 12, 2015, 01:37 IST

New York State Governor's Office

A New York Times investigation of the maximum security prison from which two convicted murderers escaped in early June revealed that prisoners there were brutally interrogated by guards following the high-profile jail-break.

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"Where are they going? What did you hear? How much are they paying you to keep your mouth shut? You know what waterboarding is?" one guard reportedly asked inmate Patrick Alexander, while holding him up against a wall by his throat.

The interrogations reportedly began hours after Richard Matt, 49, and David Sweat, 35, escaped from their honor block cells on June 6, and lasted for days. More than 60 inmates have filed complaints with the prisoners' rights organization Prisoners' Legal Services, which are also being looked into by the Department of Corrections.

Mr. Alexander, whose interrogations were particularly harsh, reportedly shared a cell with Richard Matt.

"The officer jumps up and grabs me by my throat, lifts me out of the chair, slams my head into the pipe along the wall," he told the Times. "Then he starts punching me in the face. The other two get up and start hitting me also in the ribs and stomach."

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It was then when the officers threatened to waterboard him.

"You know what waterboarding is?" the prisoner said he was asked.

The alleged abused came as the prison and authorities frantically search for the convicted murders.

"Must have kept you awake with all that cutting, huh?" New York governor Andrew Cuomo asked an inmate after inspecting the holes made byt he escapees.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo tours the Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora, New York, in this handout picture taken June 6, 2015. More than 200 local, state and federal law enforcement officials set up roadblocks, took to the air and went door-to-door in their search for Richard Matt, 48, and David Sweat, 34, who went missing early Saturday morning from the Clinton Correctional Facility located about 20 miles (30 km) south of the Canadian border. Picture taken June 6, 2015.REUTERS/New York State Office of the Governor/Darren McGee/Handout

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Another inmate, Victor Aponte, recalls similar abuse, writing in his complaint that officers tied a plastic bag around his neck and tightened it until he lost consciousness.

Read the full Times investigation here >>

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