Washington Post editorial writer Charles Lane said Tuesday that the prison escape of convicted New York murderers David Sweat and Richard Matt provides an argument against life sentences.
Prison breaks by murderers are rare. But they are an argument against life w/o parole as a substitute for capital punishment.
— Charles Lane (@ChuckLane1) June 9, 2015
Lane then followed up to a Twitter user who said that the death penalty for the wrongly convicted is worse.
@arsenalfcn5 @CapehartJ Let's talk after he's recaptured, and we know whether he kills anyone during the escape.
— Charles Lane (@ChuckLane1) June 9, 2015
Sweat and Matt staged a “Shawshank Redemption”-style prison break from Clinton Correctional Facility in upstate New York, where they were serving time.
Sweat killed a sheriff’s officer in 2002 and pleaded guilty to avoid a death sentence. Matt went to prison in 2008 for the murder of his boss — his third stint in the joint. He’s serving 25 years.