Andrew Cuomo Makes Stuff Up During His Prison PR Tour

Andrew Cuomo on ABC News after two prisoners escaped from Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora, NY:

The governor, who toured the prison Saturday, described the escaped convicts as "resourceful" and "dangerous." 

"This was the first breakout since 1865 and I want to make sure that it's the last," Cuomo said.

Cuomo was wrong:

Since Clinton opened in 1845, dozens of inmates have escaped over, under or through the prison’s thick walls, their exploits detailed in breathless, often sensationalistic, newspaper reports of earlier eras.

...

Jeff Hall, a history professor at Queensborough Community College, said Clinton’s history of escapes was fairly ordinary among state prisons. “Escapes aren’t common, but they’re not uncommon,” said Professor Hall, whose doctoral dissertation was about prisons in the North Country region of New York, where Clinton is. He said that, typically, the prisoners were not found by police activity like helicopter flyovers, roadblocks or bloodhounds.

While it's true many of the prison breaks from the prison came before the 1865 date Cuomo gave as the last time there was a successful breakout, there were also some after the 1865 date.

Why does Cuomo feel the need to give definitive statements like this that aren't, you know, the truth?