© WikipediaClinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora, New York.
The prisoners, identified as Richard Matt, 48, and David Sweat, 34, used "an elaborate plot" to escape from the Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora, New York governor Andrew Cuomo said.
"A search revealed that there was a hole cut out of the back of the cell through which these inmates escaped," acting state corrections commissioner Anthony Annuci said during a Saturday news conference.
"They went onto a catwalk which is about six stories high. We estimate they climbed down and had power tools and were able to get out of this facility through tunnels, cutting away at several spots," he added.
The two convicts, who had adjoining cells, were discovered missing on Saturday morning during a bed check.
A major security concern is that the Canadian border is only 32 kilometers (20 miles) from the prison. Police have set up road blocks and are using bloodhounds and aerial surveillance in their search.
Officials have described the two convicts as "dangerous individuals" and instructed people not to approach them.
It is still unclear where the inmates obtained the power tools for their well-planned escape.
This was the facility's first prison break from the maximum-security wing since 1865, Cuomo said during a press conference.
Matt is serving a sentence of 25 years to life for kidnapping a man and beating him to death in 1997. Sweat is serving life in prison without parole for first-degree murder of a Broome County sheriff's deputy in 2002.
Police described Matt as a 6-foot-tall white male with black hair and hazel eyes. Sweat is a 5-foot, 11-inch white male with brown hair and green eyes.
So the two prisoners are dangerous individuals but so are the more than 200 police officers, who are now out there to look for something or somebody to kill. A time for all people in New York state to stay hunkered down in the basement until the 202+ people have calmed down