recently released from prison goes on killing spree

[Hoover]

A Skagit County Washington man, recently released from prison goes on a killing spree taking the life of 6 people.

Link: http://channels.isp.netscape.com/new...10&floc=NI-ne1

[leehljp]

I just saw a brief of that on CNN a few minutes ago. Very sad!

[dbhost]

Since we are not supposed to discuss political topics here, I won't say much, aside from the fact I am far less than impressed with the mental health and public safety records of either Oregon, or Washington States.

The best man at my wedding, his wife, and their children live in fear that his psycho dad will find them. I am no mental health official, but I can say for the record that his Dad is nuttier than Charles Manson eating Fruit Loops on your front porch... The man is DANGEROUS, and has been since our government brought him back from the jungles in Vietnam...

[Wood_workur]

this is why I think many jail sentences are not stiff enough. you committed a rime and you deserve to be treated like scum for it.

People in japan will PAY to stay in this:


but prisoners get sentenced to much roomier places and get time to play?

[Pappy]

Obviously I don't know the background or history of the man but, from the article, he had not been in jail for a violent crime. With this in mind, there may not have been any way for those on the legal side to have seen this coming or prevented it.

[Uncle Cracker]

Jail time doesn't correct everybody... Some people are just plain bad. That's why most landed there in the first place. The notion that we can keep every person behind bars until they change is ridiculous. There are just too many running back and forth through the turnstiles. I don't like it when something like this happens any more than the next guy, but stuff is gonna happen from time to time, and there will always be people pointing the finger when it does.

[dlminehart]

Most prisons seem designed to bring out the worst in people, on both sides of the bars.

[footprintsinconc]

so called "correctional facilites"/prisions is another lucrative business. if there are profits to be made, then the problem isnt going to go away...

[Alex Franke]

That's terrible -- so many lives taken, and so many others affected... It's just terrible.

It's not against the law to be crazy, but a lot of states allow a temporary hold (3 days, sometimes longer) against the person's will if they're deemed a threat to self of others -- hopefully enough time to get some meds and into the right frame of mind. That's how they try to separate the dangerous from the plain old crazy.

dbhost, maybe you can explore that option if your family is in fear of harm. Even the inability to care of ones self can be a big part of the reason for a temporary hold. (e.g. no place to sleep and won't bathe for fear that "they" have poisoned the water, might try to cook a meal and forget to turn the gas off, and more obvious things like wanting to self-operate to remove devices that "they" implanted, etc.)

Is there a direct correlation between the jail time and the murders? I'm not sure you can blame the jail time... If he was already off his rocker, it may well have just been a matter of time before it happened, regardless of the jail time or how stiff or lax it may have been.

It's a shame that this had to happen, though. And it's amazing how many fine lines and moral decisions there are when mental illness enters into the picture -- esp when you're trying to prevent something that "might" happen. It's an extremely complicated issue. But clearly that doesn't make this kind of thing okay....I certainly don't want him on *my* streets.

[dbhost]

Well, to give you an idea, I am unsure about the situation the OP is talking about, but the friend with the pyscho dad, had to put up with abuse in the family, and threats to friends (I was the recipient of one of those threats), the family has tried for years to get the V.A. to take his mental health issues seriously, they won't. He only got admitted to the state mental hospital in Salem after the third time or so of threatening checkers at the local grocery with a knife...

In the case of the guy that committed all of those murders, I don't think the problem was so much the legal system, as the mental health system that is broken...

[just started]

We need to change the law so if they won't stay on their meds they can be locked up for that alone.

[Uncle Cracker]

We need to change the law so if they won't stay on their meds they can be locked up for that alone.

That's easy... If the meds are court-ordered or a condition of parole and/or probation, offenders can be locked up for that alone.