What Happened To Joyce Mitchell's Son?

For those closest to people who have been convicted of violent or unsettling crimes, the idea that a person (or persons) who they thought they knew better than almost anyone else could also be capable of perpetrating great harms can be, for lack of a better term, a shock to the system. When it's your own mother, it's possibly magnified ten-fold. And in the case of Joyce Mitchell, who was convicted in 2015 for her role in aiding and abetting murderers Richard Matt and David Sweat in their escape from the Clinton Correctional Facility in upstate New York, this seemed to be the case for her only son, Tobey Mitchell.

Tobey, who was the product of his mother's first marriage to her ex-husband, Tobey Premo, seemingly stood by Joyce after it was discovered that she had served as an accomplice in helping Matt and Sweat in their jailhouse break. As Bustle reported in 2018 — the same year a dramatization of the event entitled "Escape at Dannemora" drew renewed attention to the case — both Tobey and his adoptive father, Lyle, were stalwart defenders of Joyce's innocence. In an interview with NBC News shortly following Joyce's arrest in 2015, Tobey went on the record by stating his mother would not "risk her life or other people's lives to let these guys escape from prison." 

Though Joyce was found guilty of doing exactly that, 2015 turned into a watershed year for her son — in all the wrong ways.

Per Bustle, Tobey Mitchell soon found himself embroiled in his own legal troubles shortly following the arrest and conviction of his mother, Joyce, in 2015. As the media outlet noted in 2018, Tobey, then 22-years old, made headlines — albeit largely local ones — for charges of first-degree aggravated domestic assault against his wife, Paige. In Cinemaholic's summary of the incident, the counts against Tobey for his attack against Paige, which included attempted strangulation, could have resulted in a 15-year prison sentence. 

However, after pleading "not guilty," the charges against the son of Joyce Mitchell were eventually dismissed due to "signs of growth" attributed to completing "necessary counseling," per the blog. Per Cinemaholic, prosecuting attorney Susan Hardin remarked at the time that the decision to dismiss "was a fair resolution for all concerned, weighing the victim's situation and weighing his situation." 

Since his 2015 court appearance, Bustle reported that Tobey has led a fairly quiet life in upstate New York, in the same general vicinity as to where the prison break that made his mother a household name initially took place.

If you or someone you know is dealing with domestic abuse, you can call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1−800−799−7233. You can also find more information, resources, and support at their website.