Joyce Mitchell Breaks Silence in First-Ever Interview for NBC's TODAY

By: Sep. 18, 2015
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Joyce Mitchell breaks her silence and speaks to Matt Lauer in her first-ever interview. In the NBC News exclusive, Mitchell, the New York prison seamstress who pled guilty to helping two inmates escape, tells Lauer, "I just got in over my head." The candid and emotional interview airs in two parts on NBC's TODAY, Monday and today, September 14 and 18, and as a special two-hour Dateline tonight, September 18 at 9 p.m. ET.

Mitchell sits down with Lauer in Clinton County Jail where she is awaiting sentencing for helping convicted murderers Richard Matt and David Sweat escape the prison where she worked. An excerpt from the interview follows. If used, please credit NBC's TODAY and Dateline with air dates (September 14 and 18).

Excerpts:

JOYCE MITCHELL: I know it's hard to believe. But I do love my husband. And I've always loved my husband. I just-- I was going through a point in my life-- a lot of people go through depression. A lot of people go through that. And I just got in over my head. And I couldn't get out. And I couldn't tell anybody. I couldn't tell my husband. Couldn't tell my family. I couldn't tell my coworkers. I couldn't tell anybody. There's nobody you can tell.

MATT LAUER: He [Richard Matt] had complete control of you, in your opinion at that point?

JOYCE MITCHELL: Yes. He was-- he was good at that.

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Photo courtesy of NBC



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