Prison fugitive David Sweat has been captured by police in New York, a county sheriff has confirmed.

The surviving prison escapee was captured in Constable, N.Y., about 6 kilometres from the Canadian border, said Franklin County Sheriff Kevin Mulverhill.

Sweat, 35, was alive and in custody after he was shot by Sgt. Jay Cook of the New York State Police on Sunday. His condition was unknown, but he was transported to a medical centre in nearby Malone.

According to U.S. Senator Charles Schumer, there are no reports of any members of law enforcement hurt in the shooting and arrest operation.

Schumer said the fugitive was shot twice and was coughing up blood as he was transported to hospital.

With files from The Associated Press

The following is a report from The Associated Press

The capture came two days after a federal agent shot and killed the other escaped prisoner, Richard Matt. Both disappeared nearly three weeks ago after they staged an elaborate breakout from from the Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora, a maximum-security prison in New York.

State police confirm Matt was shot three times in the head, killed by authorities.

New York State Police released details of Richard Matt's autopsy on Sunday.

The autopsy showed Matt was in good shape for someone who had been in the woods -- he was well fed, well equipped and hydrated.

Officials say Matt also had bug bites on his legs, blisters and minor abrasions that would be expected for someone who had been living in the woods.

Toxicology results are still pending.

Matt was carrying a 20-gauge shotgun when he was shot during an encounter with border patrol agents about 50 kilometres west of the prison he escaped from with Sweat on June 6, authorities said. Matt -- who once vowed never to be taken alive -- died from severe skull fractures and brain injuries, according to an autopsy.

 A coroner who attended Matt's autopsy told The Associated Press that Sweat's fellow escapee had been eating and drinking well during his time on the run and was protected from the elements by heavy boots, camouflage pants and a dark green jacket.

Matt may have even showered and shaved at some point, according to Franklin County Coroner Brian Langdon, who was present for the autopsy.

"He looked clean and well-kept," Langdon said. "He wasn't sleeping in any cave or anything like that for three weeks, that's for sure."

"I would say he was in very good condition, physically," Langdon said.

The manhunt broke open Friday afternoon when a person towing a camper heard a loud noise and thought a tire had blown. Finding there was no flat, the driver drove 13 kilometres before looking again and finding a bullet hole in the trailer. A tactical team responding to the scene of the shot smelled gunpowder inside a cabin and saw evidence that someone had fled out the back door.

A noise -- perhaps a cough -- ultimately did Matt in. A border patrol team discovered Matt, who was shot after failing to heed a command to raise his hands.

Matt, who turned 49 the day before he died, was serving 25 years to life for the killing and dismemberment of his former boss.

Sweat was serving a sentence of life without parole in the killing of a sheriff's deputy in Broome County in 2002. Investigators believe he was also be armed.

Matt and Sweat used power tools to saw through a steel cell wall and several steel steam pipes, bashed a hole through a 60-centimetre-thick brick wall, squirmed through pipes and emerged from a manhole outside the prison. Two prison workers have been charged.