A former prison guard who pleaded guilty to assisting David Sweat and Richard Matt escape from the Clinton County Correctional Facility in Northern New York is himself a free man again.

Gene Palmer was released from the Clinton County Jail on Monday after serving four months of his six month sentence. The 58-year-old was accused of hiding hacksaw blades and other instruments inside meat for Sweat and Matt - which they used to cut into pipes and walls inside the prison. Palmer pleaded guilty to two counts of promoting prison contraband.

Photo by New York State Police via Getty Images
Sweat, Matt - Photo by New York State Police via Getty Images
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The escape resulted in a three-week manhunt last summer as authorities searched for the two convicts in many rural areas of Northern New York and the Canadian border. Matt was ultimately killed in a shootout with police. Sweat was spotted by cops and shot when he tried flea back into a wooded area. He survived and is back behind bars.

Joyce Mitchell (below), the prison seamstress who also pleaded guilty for aiding the convicts, is currently serving a seven year prison sentence.

GN Miller- Pool, Getty Images
GN Miller- Pool, Getty Images
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