Picking up the pieces

The manhunt has been over for a month.  Richard Matt was killed by police and David Sweat was shot and captured.  The hundreds of law enforcement professionals and media representatives who participated in the carnival that followed the escape of the convicted murderers have long since moved on.  The sordid little back stories continue to play out in relative privacy.  The woman who aided the two escapees signed a guilty plea yesterday in exchange for no more charges than have already been levied against her.  In a tale of furtive encounters and gradually escalated involvement, she admitted the two men made her feel special, even as they plotted to drug and kill her husband, who also worked in the prison tailor shop with them.  Like a pebble dropped into a pond, the ripples of this infidelity and its effects on those near Ms. Mitchell will continue to be seen in the months and years to come.  It will almost certainly be fodder for studies of what happens when hardened killers with nothing to lose come in contact with local men and women who depend on the correctional system for employment.   The north country of New York is particularly dependent on this type of arrangement.  The sooner this area moves away from dependency on incarceration for economic growth, the better for all the Kathy Mitchells in the system and the families potentially in harm's way because of it.