Guard who gave meat to 2 New York inmates faces arraignment

Corrections officers rush to an area of a possible sighting of two escaped prisoners from Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora, on Tuesday, June 23, 2015, in Mountain View, N.Y. Police began focusing intensely on an area 20 miles west of the prison that inmates David Sweat and Richard Matt escaped from prison on June 6. (AP Photo/Mike Groll) Corrections officers rush to an area of a possible sighting of two escaped prisoners from Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora, on Tuesday, June 23, 2015, in Mountain View, N.Y. Police began focusing intensely on an area 20 miles west of the prison that inmates David Sweat and Richard Matt escaped from prison on June 6. (AP Photo/Mike Groll)

By Associated Press June 25, 2015 3 min read

PLATTSBURGH, N.Y. (AP) – A maximum-security prison guard who delivered frozen meat with tools hidden inside to two inmates before they escaped will be arraigned on charges of promoting prison contraband and other offenses.

But a lawyer for correction officer Gene Palmer says his client had no knowledge any contraband was inside the meat.

“He did pass the hamburger meat. He shouldn’t have done it. He apologized for it,” said defense lawyer Andrew Brockway Wednesday night. He insisted Palmer didn’t know the inmates were trying to escape.

Palmer worked at the Clinton County Correctional Facility in upstate Dannemora, where inmates David Sweat and Richard Matt were reported missing on June 6.

He was being held on $25,000 bail Wednesday night after he appeared before a judge in Plattsburgh to face charges of promoting prison contraband, tampering with physical evidence and official misconduct.