Joyce Mitchell, wearing striped jail inmate's clothing, exits the Clinton County courthouse in Plattsburgh after a sentencing hearing in September 2015. (Photo provided — Jason Cerone)

PLATTSBURGH — The woman who helped the inmates at the center of the infamous 2015 Clinton Correctional Facility escape was denied parole.

The Parole Board shot down Joyce Mitchell’s third attempt at parole, according to the state Department of Corrections and Community Supervision, setting her next possible parole date for June 2021.

Mitchell, 55, was sentenced to two-and-a-third to seven years in prison for her role in aiding convicted killers Richard Matt and David Sweat, who led authorities on a three-week-long manhunt that cost the state over $23 million.

The Dickinson Center resident, who was a supervisor in the prison’s tailor shop, provided tools, which the inmates used to bust out of the maximum-security prison.

She has been serving her sentence in Bedford Hills Correctional Facility and had been denied parole previously, in February and August of 2017.

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Local opposition

Resistance to early parole for Mitchell is strong in the North Country.

A recent query on the Press-Republican Facebook page about whether she should be granted parole brought a deluge of responses.

“I think she should serve her whole sentence,” Eunice LeClair posted. “The terror bestowed upon the people of Dannemora and surrounding towns was something she could have lessened, but chose not to. Her sentence should not be lessened either.”

“How long was our lives on hold, scared to go anywhere, stopped and cars searched, parents fearing for their children safety and I see posts about HER needing help??” ReGena Corvelli wrote. “Bull crap. Full sentence and PAY THE STATE what she owes.”

“Why would she want to get out??” Buffy Mero Little added. “Too many people that would make her life a living Hell. She should stay right where she is. Oh! And tack on a few more years.”