DANNEMORA, N.Y. – The female prison worker who befriended two escaped killers has been arrested in connection with the brazen breakout from New York’s maximum security facility, state police said Friday.

District Attorney Andrew Wylie said prison employee Joyce Mitchell, 51, brought contraband equipment into the prison for the convicts, who worked under her supervision in the tailoring shop. She faces charges of first-degree promoting prison contraband, a felony; and fourth-degree criminal facilitation, a misdemeanor.

Wylie did not specify the type of equipment Mitchell secured for the convicts except to say it did not include power tools. CNN reported sources close to the investigation listed the contraband as hacksaw blades, drill bits and two pairs of lighted safety glasses.

Mitchell has been questioned daily since Richard Matt, 48, and David Sweat, 34, used power tools and guile to escape from the prison in northeast New York near the Canadian border a week ago. They’ve eluded capture for longer than any other New York prison escapees.

Mitchell’s husband, Lyle, also works in the prison. He is a maintenance supervisor and the district attorney said he also could possibly be involved “or at least had knowledge” of the escape.

Initially, the manhunt for the fugitives spread wide over northern New York and into Canada and neighboring Vermont, but since Thursday it has focused on the heavily wooded terrain five miles east of the prison, where police dogs picked up their scent and searchers found discarded food wrappers.

The around-the-clock search swelled by another 300 law officers on Friday to 800 police  combing the hilly, swampy area in and around the tiny town of Cadyville. Helicopters equipped with infrared body sensors hovered overhead throughout the daylight hours.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo has offered a $100,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of the escapees. He described the pair as “extremely dangerous and desperate.”

District Attorney Wylie said Mrs. Mitchell offered “minimal information” about her relationship with the killers early in the investigation but has been more forthcoming in recent days.

“She is providing us with information relevant to our investigation,” he said. “Certainly, some of the information is incriminating to her conduct.”

State Police Superintendent Joseph D’Amico said investigators believe Mitchell planned to pick up the convicts after they broke out of the prison but changed her mind and checked herself into a local hospital on Friday night, complaining of chest pains.

Governor Cuomo said anyone who helped or facilitated the killers escape will be “prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”

That sentiment reflected the view of resident Liv Dawkins of Cadyville, who said the manhunt for the fugitives has disrupted everyday live in the normally quiet, idyllic region.

“One lone person could have stopped all this drama,” said Liv Dawkins of Cadyville. “That person is Joyce Mitchell. She is a very big player in what is going on in my front yard.”

Wylie said once the killers are captured, Mitchell “would be charged to the fullest extent of the law, and that means no side deal, no bargains.”

Mitchell’s husband, Lyle, also works at the maximum security unit of the Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora.  Authorities said he apparently did not know of his wife’s involvement with the escapees and is not considered an accomplice to their elaborate escape plot.

Joyce Mitchell’s ex-husband, Tobey Premo of Massena, N.Y.,  said he was not surprised by her involvement. He said they were high school sweethearts who later married but she often cheated on him because of her affection for men known for bad behavior.

He admitted he hasn’t seen his ex-wife in 20 years but said she apparently hasn’t changed.

The killer fugitives are the first to escape from the maximum security prison since it was built 150 years ago. They did so by deceiving guards with decoy dummies in their cells while they fled through holes cut in the back of their cells, navigating a maze of passageways inside the prison to a steam pipe leading to the outside of the prison. They cut a hole in the pipe and crawled through it to emerge from a manhole a block away.

Details for this story were provided by the Plattsburgh, N.Y., Press-Republican.