An official of the prison agency, the Department of Corrections and Community Supervision, confirmed that Mr. Sweat had provided information about “his perception of security vulnerabilities.” But the official said that the agency’s Office of Special Investigations had “investigated his claims and found them without merit.” The official added: “Out of an abundance of caution, and in accordance with the department’s biannual review policy, Sweat was moved to Attica.”

The prison agency’s spokesman, Thomas Mailey, said in a statement issued on Dec. 22 that, “Negotiating facility placement with any inmate is a direct violation of department policies and procedures.” The decision to move Mr. Sweat, he added, was “one of the more than 60,000 transfers that occur each year.”

The agency has declined to say precisely what information Mr. Sweat provided or why the agency came to the conclusion that the escape plan would not work. It has also declined to provide copies — or excerpts — of the audio or video recordings of the meeting with Mr. Sweat. The Times is disclosing only the broad outlines of Mr. Sweat’s scheme, leaving out many of the specific details he provided.

Mr. Sweat appeared confident that his mechanical skill — “I just have this ability to take things apart and put them back together” — his persistence, resourcefulness and his analytical nature would have served him just as well had he tried to escape from Five Points.

Sitting in a small visiting room in the Attica medical ward, dressed in a green prison uniform, his manacled hands and shackled legs chained to a heavy leather belt around his waist, Mr. Sweat often leaned forward in his chair as he spoke.

He maintained that he did not want to escape again. He provided the information to the authorities not only because he was seeking the privileges, he said, but because Ms. Malanik, 45, who was present during the conversation, had moved from Long Island to Ovid, N.Y., to be nearer to the prison, and he was concerned that any inmates who figured out how to escape might do her, her 6-year-old daughter or other area residents harm.