What Happened To Tilly At The Prison

Tilly didn’t get the ending she was hoping for in Escape at Dannemora, though she likely got the one she deserved. The Showtime miniseries tells the story of the 2015 real-life prison breakout at Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora, New York. In eight episodes, inmates Richard Matt (Benicio del Toro) and David Sweat (Paul Dano) plan and carry out their daring escape, which involves prison employee Joyce “Tilly” Mitchell sneaking in the necessary tools. It took several months, but over time, Sweat and Matt managed to cut through the wall behind their cell beds and slip into a neglected utility area to a steam pipe that led to the city sewer.

Matt and Sweat had planned for Tilly to be their getaway driver in Escape at Dannemora. They promised the prison employee that she would come with them to Mexico to live with them in paradise—a prospect that excited her since Tilly had sexual and romantic relationships with both Matt and Sweat. However, Matt and Sweat’s plan also included Tilly poisoning her husband, Lyle. In the end, she couldn’t bring herself to do it, so Tilly abandoned Matt and Sweat to flee into the woods on foot in the true story of Escape to Dannemora. Ultimately, Matt is shot and killed, and Sweat is brought back to prison—while Tilly gets her own comeuppance.

Tilly’s Fate & Final Prison Scene Explained

Tilly’s Ending Is Full Of Irony

While the ending of Escape at Dannemora is pretty straightforward and aligns well with accounts of the true story, Tilly’s final moments on screen are a touch more ambiguous. The character, played by Patricia Arquette, is seen in her new prison during her last scene, talking to a corrections officer about what she plans to say to the judge during her upcoming trial. Tilly is rather friendly and familiar with the CO, a fact reinforced by the man’s offer to throw the inmate a “party” before she heads to court and, likely, a new prison the next day. We never hear Tilly’s answer, but this scene is still rather telling.

Tilly is accused of being a serial adulterer in Escape at Dannemora, and her final moments on screen imply that this will continue. Her ending is ironic since the inappropriate dynamic she had with the inmates of Clinton Correctional Facility has been Uno-reversed. This contributes to the final big takeaway of the Showtime series, highlighting the repeated corruption within the prison system that allowed Matt and Sweat’s big escape to happen right under everyone’s noses. Just as Tilly’s unfaithfulness hadn’t changed, the foundational issue within the prison system hadn’t either.

What Happened To David Sweat In Escape At Dannemora’s Ending

David Sweat Came So Close To Freedom

Tilly’s ending in Escape at Dannemora required some creative liberties on the part of director Ben Stiller and the series’ writers, but the fates of the on-screen inmates went by the book. Richard Matt might have been the one cutting all the deals and manipulating the system, but David Sweat was the true mastermind when it came to the semantics of the breakout. He had worked months to cut through and knock down the various obstacles keeping him from the manhole outside the prison. In the end, Sweet was the most likely to actually escape, free and clear. Of course, it didn’t work out that way.

If Sweat had escaped the prison during his practice attempt rather than going back in for Matt, he likely would have made it to Canada.

Richard Matt’s drunkenness became a liability for Sweat, so the latter man went his own way and very nearly made it to the Canadian border. He was only 16 miles from his goal when he was spotted, chased, and shot by a police officer. After being taken to the hospital, Sweat was interrogated by New York State Inspector General Catherine Leahy Scott. This Escape at Dannemora character ultimately pointed out that if Sweat had escaped the prison during his practice attempt rather than going back in for Matt, he likely would have made it to Canada. It’s another layer of irony within the series’ ending.

What Happened To Richard Matt In Escape At Dannemora’s Ending

Richard Matt Sabotaged His Own Chance At Freedom

Richard Matt was cunning, intelligent, and fairly likable throughout the prison escape TV show, but this all fell apart by the ending. Though certainly manipulative, Matt’s artistic ability and relative kindness and respect shown to the COs made him seem trustworthy, and it’s precisely this that made Tilly and CO Gene Palmer play so easily into the inmate’s hands. Sweat trusted Matt wholeheartedly as well. Though the former had done the majority of the work regarding their escape, he states at the end of Escape at Dannemora that he never even considered leaving Matt behind.

Of course, Matt quickly became a problem once the duo escaped from Clinton Correctional. He found several bottles of alcohol in an abandoned hunting shack shortly into the journey, and his decision-making ability deteriorated from there. Matt becomes unpredictable and reckless, drinking bad water, moving slowly through the forest, and even attempting to attack a police officer. Sweat finally abandoned Matt, and the latter man stupidly shot at a passing vehicle, hoping to hijack it. This brought the police force down hard, and the heavily intoxicated Matt was shot down and killed.

Matt & Sweat’s Full Prison Escape Plan Explained

How Everything Was Supposed To Go Down (& Where It Went Wrong)

Matt and Sweat’s escape plan in Escape at Dannemora depended entirely on the incompetence of Clinton Correctional Facility’s staff.Matt only knew about the utility area behind his and Sweat’s cell in the first place because CO Palmer had told him to hide his contraband paints down there. Matt then convinced Tilly to sneak in hacksaws by hiding them inside ground beef, which she froze and had Palmer deliver to the inmates. Once through the walls within their cells, Matt and Sweat only had to figure out how to get from the utility area to the free world beyond.

This is where Sweat became the mastermind of the plan. He used more tools snuck in by Tilly, or else taken from the utility area, to break through two brick walls blocking the way. When he came to the far thicker concrete wall that served as the underground barrier to the prison, Sweat initially planned to chisel his way through slowly. However, he realized that the steam pipe was turned off for the summer and, therefore, safe (albeit tight) to climb through. Once on the other side, the inmate duo were in the sewer system, which let out through a manhole at the center of a nearby intersection.

The escapees knew that Tilly’s husband, Lyle, would report that his wife hadn’t returned home hours before they were noted absent from the prison.

Tilly was supposed to wait for Matt and Sweat at this intersection with the getaway vehicle and supplies. However, the escapees knew that Tilly’s husband, Lyle, would report that his wife hadn’t returned home hours before they were noted absent from the prison. Therefore, Matt gave Tilly pills to poison Lyle. This is where the plan really went wrong. Tilly suffered a panic attack as she pondered giving Lyle the pills and went to the hospital rather than meet Matt and Sweat at the intersection. Though Tilly made the right decision here, it didn’t serve the escaped convicts well.

How Escape At Dannemora’s Ending Compares To The True Story

The Showtime Series Came Close To The Known Truth

Like any based-on-real-life story, Escape at Dannemora dramatized and took creative liberties with the Clinton Correctional Facility breakout. Many private conversations had to be invented, and assumptions were made regarding the truth. The real Tilly Mitchell maintained during her trial, sentence, and beyond that she had been threatened and assaulted by Richard Matt, but this was never an angle taken by Escape at Dannemora. Additionally, since Matt was killed before he could be interrogated, any scenes featuring this character alone were an invention of the Showtime series.

Escape at Dannemora
is available to stream on Netflix.

Still, many details regarding Matt and Sweat’s escape, Tilly’s relationship with her husband, the involvement and negligence of the prison workers, and more line up directly with the public account of what happened in 2015. Director Ben Stiller used the published report of New York State Inspector General Catherine Leahy Scott to construct the script for Escape at Dannemora, so the events seen on screen are more or less how officials understand things to have gone down at the prison. Of course, there are some details that the public will surely never know.