Thread by @ProPublica

1/ More than one in three people found criminally insane in Oregon and then freed by the state were charged with new crimes within 3 years of being released. Some went on to rape and kill.

A state board knew about this issue.

It didn’t tell the public.

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2/ Here’s the first public accounting of what happens to insanity defendants after they’re free in Oregon.

We found that many return to:
-abusing drugs
-damaging property
-hurting themselves
-harming others
A few also raped or killed.

propub.li/2FsNVBC

3/ How did we get here? While most states are reluctant to end oversight of people found criminally insane w/ histories of offenses, Oregon isn’t.
It releases people found not guilty by reason of insanity from supervision & treatment more quickly than nearly every other state.

4/ Oregon is 1 of 5 states that ends oversight of people found not guilty by insanity the moment they’d have completed their max prison sentence.

Without access to healthcare, housing, job counseling and a positive social network, returning to violence can be quick.

5/ Most states free people only after doctors conclude they can live on their own without posing a danger to themselves or others.

Oregon requires no such assessment when a defendant’s time is up.

It just opens the door.

6/ Several of those freed defendants have returned to crime and violence.

Take the case of Timothy Ashmus. He was found not guilty by insanity in Dec. 2010. After 5 months, the board decided he was no longer mentally ill and freed him.

7/ Ashmus started using meth again.

Seven months later, he strangled an 8-year-old girl.

He threw a toddler across the room.

He was put on probation.

8/ About 2 years later, he was sent to prison for raping a woman who’d come by his house to give him a ride to karaoke night with friends.

Ashmus denied the rape and said he had been wrongly convicted.

9/ In April of this year, we wrote about Charles Longjaw, a murderer and rapist who was found not guilty by insanity and later freed by the board, even though doctors warned he’d attack again.

He did.

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10/ A few weeks after Longjaw killed again, the Oregon board freed Anthony Montwheeler. Within a month, he was charged for killing Annita Harmon, an ex-wife, & David Bates, a motorist. His trial is on hold while he is treated at the Oregon State Hospital.
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11/ Longjaw asserted his innocence at trial, but was convicted in March.

He has appealed his case (as is typical of life sentences).

12/ The board questioned the methodology and ethics of the @MalheurNews/@ProPublica analysis — even though it paralleled what the board had already done.

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@MalheurNews 13/ Three years ago, the board wondered if people followed the law after they completed their intensive treatment.

An internal review last year found 1/3 to 1/2 were arrested on new charges.

Here’s what the board knew when:

propub.li/2PCV4Ul

@MalheurNews 14/ The Oregon Psychiatric Security Review Board’s study was never shared w/ the public, the governor (who appoints them), the legislature (which oversees the budget) or the treatment providers.

Board says it never shared the findings because it wasn’t finished or peer reviewed.

@MalheurNews 15/ And the board isn't sure it will ever finish its study.

Officials say it is not their duty and other work could "take precedence."

They say it would be unfair to measure their success based on the criminal recidivism of people they freed.

@MalheurNews 16/ Board members have declined repeated interview requests but said in a joint response to written questions that the 11-person agency has “limited resources.”

@MalheurNews 17/ Some think that Oregon more effectively protects defendants’ rights because the decision on whether to release a person is made by a board, not judges who may worry about political risks of freeing people from supervision.

The case studies we detail show pros and cons.

@MalheurNews 18/ Have questions? Reporter @JaymeKFraser may be able to answer them.
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