Sep 17


“Criminally insane killer escapes”

by Terry 17 September 2009


Spokane is in a panic today, with KXLY4-News flooding Twitter with updates and photos of a patient from Eastern State Hospital who walked away while on a supervised group field trip to the Spokane Interstate Fair. The coverage seems guaranteed to inflame our deepest fears of the mentally ill.

22 years ago Phillip Paul was tried for strangling 78-year-old Ruth Mottley, who the voices in his head told him was a witch, and found to be criminally insane.  He has spent the years since in Eastern State Hospital undergoing treatment for schizophrenia.  Before I go any further, I want to make it clear that my heart goes out to Ms. Mottley’s family and friends who were left grief-stricken by her murder.   It is impossible to over-estimate their loss.  Ms. Mottley should not have died.  That’s a fact that I would never think of disputing.  But today’s incident brings up a lot of questions.

The fair board is claiming that it should have been notified in advance of the hospital’s plan to bring mental patients to the fair, and should have disclosed both the criminal and treatment histories of the patients when petitioning for permission.  The board assures us that had that procedure been followed, the request would have been denied and the hospital’s patients would have been barred from the fair.  All of them.

Some say they should never have been allowed off hospital grounds in the first place.  Eastern State Hospital has declined comment on the incident but Jim Stevenson at DSHS says that field trips are not uncommon, and that field trips are determined on a case-by-case basis by each patient’s treatment team who decides whether or not a patient can participate.  Stevenson said it has nothing to do with their crime but more to do with where they are in their treatment.  But as a response to the outpouring of rage over this, DSHS Secretary Susan Dreyfus has ordered a “lockdown on all future field trips,” according to KXLY’s Twitter feed.

The Spokesman-Review newspaper states, in the scariest possible terms, that Paul escaped once 19 years ago and assaulted a deputy who tried to apprehend him.  Yet in 1996 a judge ruled that he could attend Spokane Community College during the day as long as he returned back to the hospital at night, and two years later Judge Michael Leavitt ruled he could have overnight visits in Spokane as long as he was with an adult member of his family.

If Paul’s been in Eastern State Hospital for 22 years–longer than he likely would have served in prison, by the way–I can guarantee he’s been medicated that entire time.  His schizophrenia has been treated, successfully, I assume, given that judges have seen fit to give him short term releases in the past. Had there been any observable reason to consider him dangerous, those judges would not have accepted these conditions of temporary release.  His wandering away (or escape, depending upon the news source) could not have been anticipated.

I can’t know the current state of Paul’s treatment, nor at what stage of recovery he is, but I’m disturbed by the open scaremongering about the mentally ill going on.  The claim that a field trip by ANY mental health patients should be approved/denied by the fair board is outrageous.  Without the hope of reintegration into society, mental health treatment is much less successful.  Medication works near miracles for many, including me.  Schizophrenia is probably the most stigmatized mental illness there is, but most of the time it responses to treatment.

The days of warehousing the mentally ill are, thank God, over.  So too, for the most part, is the idea that they should be chained up as dangerous. Yet enlightened treatment has not been matched by enlightened public perception.  For every escaped “criminally insane” patient there are several thousand people quietly recovering and going about their lives.  The publicity and news coverage happening today does nothing to increase public safety, but needlessly stigmatizes the patients at Eastern State Hospital and other mental health facilities.

For his own sake, I hope Phillip Paul is returned to the hospital soon.  It’s not good for him to go off his meds cold turkey, and yes, after an extended period without drugs it’s possible he could become a danger to himself and others.  We don’t know.  But I don’t want to see that caution turn to fear and I certainly don’t want it to extend to other recovering individuals.  I take that personally.  As we all should.

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10 Comments

10 Responses to ““Criminally insane killer escapes””

  1. wadro on September 17th, 2009 7:37 pm

    “I Know Phil and despite what these reports say, he is a very nice, well mannered person who is trying very hard to live a normal life. He has been allowed out on his own on numerus occasions. Unlike what the police say, I believe that he is no threat to the public at all. Most of this is media hype.”  (Quote)

  2. neighbor on September 17th, 2009 8:29 pm

    I have several family members that still live in Sunnyside, a little too close for comfort to his possible final destination… They are a bit on the worried side.

    I too hope for his safe return to the hospital… then everyone can sleep again…  (Quote)

  3. Starla K. Paris on September 17th, 2009 10:01 pm

    I worked at a privately-owned psychiatric hospital previosly and it is not uncommon to take patients on field trips. There is a team that decides who attends and who does not and these events are never taken lightly.

    To temporarily suspend all field trips is a wise response to the myriad of voices that are weighing in on this matter. It should not be permanent as reintegration and socialization is beneficial to all people in society. And while I don’t believe it is within the scope of responsibilities of the fair board to decide whether peiople with mental illness attend their fair or not, their security may have been notified of the possibility perhaps. I don’t know.

    Surely history has shown that this particular gentleman is a danger to himself and/or others so in light of the evidence historically, I pray that he is caught soon and brought back into the safety of the hospital environment and his medications readministered. It is typically key to successfully managing schizophrenia – consistently taking the right medications at the right dose and at the right time daily. I pray that he and others remain safe and that he is taken back into custody without incident.
    One last question: when an individual pleads not guilty by reason of insanity and an agreement is then reached and the individual sentenced to a psychiatric hospital, do they sign away their rights regarding privacy? Why would HIPPA laws not cover such an individual under these circumstances? My understanding is that even his psychiatrist has been interviewed and that he gave information to the media regarding his patient. Is this not a violation of his rights or did he sign them away in using the insanity plea? Just curious.

    Starla K. Paris-Wood  (Quote)

  4. Ahistoricality on September 18th, 2009 9:18 am

    Surely history has shown that this particular gentleman is a danger to himself and/or others

    No. History has shown that he was a danger but has not been a serious flight risk or danger for over a decade.

    when an individual pleads not guilty by reason of insanity and an agreement is then reached and the individual sentenced to a psychiatric hospital, do they sign away their rights regarding privacy?

    Not only are his privacy rights in question, so are his due process rights and limitations on “cruel and unusual” punishment, including extended incarceration and forced medication (which can’t be imposed on “normal” prisoners).  (Quote)

  5. Terry on September 19th, 2009 2:33 pm

    Thanks, A – that’s exactly the point I was trying to make. It seems to have been a reasonable risk to take.

    We shouldn’t penalize or fear all mental health patients because one evaluated risk didn’t turn out as expected.  (Quote)

  6. Ahistoricality on September 20th, 2009 4:06 pm

    You did make it, but it didn’t seem that Ms. Paris-Wood got it the first time, so I repeated it.

    Plus, nothing gets my dander up quite as quickly as “Surely history has shown us…” followed by something which no competent history student would accept as logical or well-supported.

    We shouldn’t penalize or fear all mental health patients because one evaluated risk didn’t turn out as expected.

    I’m not the first to make this point, but our nation’s “zero-risk” approach to life is going to paralyze us if we don’t start pushing back on it pretty hard.  (Quote)

  7. Ahistoricality on September 20th, 2009 4:44 pm

    Some unpleasant additional context:
    A Yakima County judge had ruled two weeks ago that Paul remained a threat to the public because of his aggressive behavior and his decreased awareness of his psychosis, The Spokesman-Review of Spokane reported Saturday.

    The newspaper reported that Paul had repeatedly tried to win full release from his court-ordered commitment, especially after fathering a child with a woman during a conditional release.

    So it’s entirely possible that he shouldn’t have been on this outing, but that’s because of his recent behavior, and should have nothing to do with the rest of the outings program.  (Quote)

  8. Terry on September 20th, 2009 5:30 pm

    I just saw that report, too, A. I agree that since it’s recent it’s a factor, contrary to the earlier report.

    I’m glad you agree with me that this shouldn’t bear on outings and socialization for other patients. So far I’m a minority of one writing about that aspect, and I’m seeing a lot of knee-jerking, both locally and nationally.

    You’ve got me thinking about our risk-averse culture. Expect a post in the next couple of days.  (Quote)

  9. Not a chance : I See Invisible People on September 21st, 2009 6:49 am
  10. Harry W. Paul on October 28th, 2009 1:26 pm

    I am Phillip Paul’s uncle. He once told me that it was a darn shame that they didn’t figure out what was wrong with him before he did anything wrong!  (Quote)

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