New York State Inspector General Lucy Lang's office hosted a panel in Albany on Wednesday discussing the 10th anniversary of the Dannemora prison break. The event featured former Department of Corrections Commissioner Anthony Annucci and former New York State Police Superintendent Joe D’Amico.
The two took a trip down memory lane, sharing stories of the infamous escape and the 23-day manhunt that followed.
The event also featured opening remarks from the Inspector General at the time, Catherine Leahy-Scott, who a year later, in 2016, put together a 150-page report on the investigation her office conducted regarding everything and anything from the escape.
The report highlighted the casual nature of employees at the time, and how that complacency played perhaps the biggest role in the escape. It also led to major changes in that facility, including the prison itself and those who worked inside of it.
“We did change the management of that facility," Annucci said. "Some good people did get hurt by that, but it was a change that had to be made to send a message to the entire staff there that a radical change in attitude and protocols had to be made.”
This week, Spectrum News 1 returns to the prison in northern New York where it began, starting with Tuesday's 8 p.m. showing of "Escape from Dannemora: Retold a Decade Later."
Our Brian Dwyer, who reported from the village during those three emotional weeks of 2015, will host the 30-minute special. An encore presentation airs at 9 p.m. Thursday.