A prison worker who helped two convicted murderers escape from a maximum security prison in New York was sentenced to seven years behind bars for providing the inmates with tools used in their daring break-out.

A northern New York prison worker has admitted to smuggling hacksaw blades in frozen hamburger meat to two killers who later broke out and spent more than two weeks on the run.

The search for two killers has landed in New York’s southern tier near the Pennsylvania border, about 350 miles from the prison where they escaped two weeks ago.

Investigators believe a prison employee in the state of New York had agreed to be the getaway driver in last weekend's escape by two killers, but never showed up.