PLATTSBURGH, N.Y. — Prison guard Gene Palmer said he didn’t realize that favors he did for inmates Richard Matt and David Sweat “made their escape easier,” according to court documents released Thursday.

Palmer, 57, worked at Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora, New York, where Matt and Sweat made a brazen escape June 6. He was arrested Wednesday evening on four charges.

Palmer admitted to investigators that he provided small tools and paint to the two inmates, in exchange for paintings made by Matt, as well as information on other illegal activities in the prison.

Palmer has also admitted to delivering a package of frozen hamburger meat to the two prisoners a week before their escape, but said he didn’t know the package contained hacksaw blades, which investigators believe the pair used to cut their way out of their adjoining cells.

Palmer’s charges include official misconduct, for accepting paintings; two counts of tampering with evidence, for trying to destroy the artwork after the inmates escaped; and promoting prison contraband, for giving them small tools and paint, according to court documents. He is free on $25,000 bail.

Palmer is the second prison worker to be arrested in connection with the convicted killers’ escape from the prison in northern New York, near the Canadian border. Joyce Mitchell, a 51-year-old civilian supervisor in the prison’s tailor shop, was charged June 12 with providing tools that helped the pair cut out of their cells. Matt and Sweat have been on the lam for 20 days.

Palmer’s charges are not related to the hamburger meat delivery, according to Clinton County District Attorney Andrew Wylie. Wylie said he believes Palmer didn’t know what was in the package, and he was delivering it at the behest of Mitchell.

The package was left in a bag in the freezer located in the prison tailor shop. The beef was packaged in a white piece of Styrofoam and plastic wrap. It did not have a store sticker on it. Also in the bag were two tubes of paint, documents say.

“I then approached Richard Matt, who was locked in his cell, and passed the hamburger meat to him through the cell,” Palmer’s statement read. “The remaining items in the bag were also given to Matt. I cannot remember providing anything else.”

Palmer worked the past eight years in A block, also called Honor Block, where Matt and Sweat had adjoining cells.

In court documents obtained by the Press-Republican, Palmer said he provided Matt and Sweat with paint and paint brushes on two separate occasions. He also gave Matt and Sweat one pair of needle-nosed pliers and one flat-head screwdriver, according to his statement.

Palmer told police that when Sweat was being investigated for something, he helped Matt hide two tubes of paint, although he could not remember the time frame.

“I had inmate Matt bring the two oil-based paint tubes that I had previously purchased for him out of his cell,” the statement said. “He followed me onto Catwalk 3 and 6. I took the paint tubes from him and hid them on top of the air vent.”

Palmer also allowed Sweat to work on the catwalk behind his cell, changing the wiring to his electrical box.

“The altering of electrical boxes was to enhance their ability to cook (on hot plates) in their cells,” Palmer said in his statement.

Wylie has said that Palmer’s charges are not related to taking inmates onto the catwalk, which he called inappropriate but not illegal.

On Saturday, the massive manhunt for the escaped killers led investigators to a remote hunting cabin about 30 miles from the prison. DNA evidence confirmed Monday that the pair broke into the cabin and spent some time there before moving on. State police warned Wednesday that the men are likely armed, though they would not confirm whether the pair took guns from the hunting cabin.

“Just about every cabin or outbuilding in the North Country has one or more shotguns or weapons,” State Police Troop B Commander Maj. Charles Guess said at a press conference. “(These men) are extremely dangerous; they are cunning. Why wouldn’t they try to arm themselves immediately upon escape?”

Sweat was serving a life sentence without parole for killing a sheriff’s deputy. Matt was doing 25 years to life for kidnapping, torturing and dismembering his former boss. Matt also served time in a Mexican prison for killing a man there while hiding out from the U.S. murder charge.

Details for this story were reported by The Press-Republican in Plattsburgh, New York.