The Oregonian, April 8, 2015 Prisoners in the Oregon State Penitentiary unit reserved for inmates with the most severe mental illnesses spend months, sometimes years in small cells with no natural light or outdoor access and rarely get to speak with others, according to an investigation by Disability Rights Oregon. Most are in their cells […]
By Les Zaitz, The Oregonian, Nov. 11, 2013 One in three inmates in Oregon prisons have mental health issues, and their numbers are growing, according to data from the state Corrections Department. The agency’s latest inmate profile, published monthly, counted 4,672 inmates who need mental health treatment. That’s up 17 percent from five years ago, […]
By Chris Lehman, OPB News, Feb. 23, 2012 Oregon is putting the finishing touches on a gleaming new mental health hospital. The Salem facility replaces a crumbling 130-year-old building and is hailed as a new chapter in the state’s troubled history of treating people judged guilty but insane. But there are far more mentally ill […]
From The Oregonian, June 19, 2011 Inmates with mental problems are overrunning Oregon’s prison resources. Year after year, the percentage of prisoners battling psychiatric demons has edged up. Now, seven in 10 of the state’s 14,000 inmates need some type of mental health care in a system never designed to provide it. Corrections Department officials […]
From the Salem Statesman Journal, April 25, 2010 Prison to adapt to mental illnesses – Salem unit will be converted to help deal with rising population Nearly half of Oregon’s 14,000 prisoners — 6,797 — are mentally ill, according to the Department of Corrections. This troubling convict population has boomed during the past decade and […]
Managing Mental Illness in Prison Task Force Findings and Recommendations October 2004 Oregon Department of Corrections ________________________________________ READ – Managing Mental Illness in Prison Task Force – 2004, in original formatting. Oregon State Penitentiary was established in 1866 for the purpose of housing offenders away from the general citizenry. There are 12,733 inmates within the […]
Mind Games: Oregon’s Mental Health System First of a five part series on the Oregon State Hospital From The Oregonian – October 25, 1987. Not available elsewhere online. Asylum: A place where one is safe and secure.” — Webster’s New World Dictionary. When George Lewis Archer, 60, collapsed dead in a pool of blood by […]
Philadelphia Inquirer, November 24, 1983 The torn window screens and peeling paint are a contrast with the delicate scientific equipment in a room in the security unit at Oregon State Hospital. The equipment provides a fast, detailed analysis of prisoners’ urine in an integral part of a program called Cornerstone, which attempts to wean inmates […]
Miami Herald – June 20, 1983 Roy D’Autremont, who led his two brothers on what became known as the last great American train robbery, has died in a nursing home. He was 83. Mr. D’Autremont, who died Friday, blew up a Southern Pacific mail car in 1923 at a rail tunnel south of Ashland in […]
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