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Prison Escapee David Sweat Returns to Max Security for First Time in 4 Weeks

Captured prison escapee David Sweat is back in a maximum security prison for the first time in nearly a month, according to officials.
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Captured prison escapee David Sweat is back in a maximum security prison for the first time in nearly a month, according to the New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision.

Sweat, 35, was released from Albany Medical Center early Sunday morning and brought to Five Points Correctional Facility in Romulus, New York.

He had been receiving treatment in the hospital for a week after he was shot twice in the torso by a state trooper near the Canadian border last Sunday, ending a weeks-long manhunt for Sweat, who escaped from Clinton Correctional Facility with murderer Richard Matt on June 6. Matt was shot dead during the exhaustive manhunt for the fugitives.

Sweat was originally listed in critical condition, and his condition was last upgraded to "fair" on Tuesday.

He will be housed for 24 hours in the infirmary at Five Points for evaluation and will then be transferred to a single cell in the facility's 23-hour confinement unit, according to the Department of Corrections and Community Supervision (DOCCS). Sweat will also be placed on suicide watch, the corrections department said.

Sweat will be charged with escape, but he was already serving a life sentence for fatally shooting a sheriff's deputy in 2002.

Five Points Correctional Facility currently houses 1,294 inmates and has 551 security personnel, according to DOCCS. The facility, which opened in 2000, has a 1,500 inmate capacity, according to the Correctional Association of New York. Serial killer Lemuel Smith is incarcerated there.