The true story behind Escape at Dannemora - including the brutal histories of escapees Richard Matt and David Sweat - is much darker than the typical prison TV show. How did two inmates break out of a maximum-security prison and evade capture for close to a month? For starters, several prison guards were in on the plot to help the men escape. Instead of confiscating contraband from the inmates, guards actually smuggled in art supplies and hacksaws hidden in raw meat for the prisoners. The lack of security allowed Sweat to break out of his cell 85 times without anyone noticing. As he later told police, “Shawshank ain’t got sh*t on me.”