This sounds like the beginning of a horror movie, but it just happened about 2 hours ago: http://www.kxly.com/Global/story.asp?S=11151340
Oops.
He looks friendly enough. I would talk to him:)
“criminally insane with an history of escape and assault”
“on a field trip”
“disappeared”
Epic fail.
Wow! Neat!
Paul could attend Spokane Community College during the day
I only read that brief newspaper story. There is a whole lot more to this story than can be filled in those packets. A label of “criminally insane” sure does worry a person who doesn’t have all the facts. Seeing as how he hasn’t killed anyone since 1987 and is allowed unsupervised activities, he’s probably not an extreme risk if he’s receiving and taking his medications and if he’s receiving the necessary supports. I work with folks who have been institutionalized. Some of them have been given rather dangerous sounding labels for some assaultive acts. I’ve never worked with someone who was labeled “criminally insane” but I have found that when most folks are finally treated like human beings and have the necessary treatment, they thrive. It’s a bummer that once a person gets a label, they keep that label forever.
Hard to take your meds when you’re on the run.
Exactly!
And while he has been in the ‘institution’ he won’t have had the same opportunity to commit a crime.
“Assaultive acts” are one thing, murder is rather another I’d say.
Well, given the choice I’d rather be assaulted than murdered 
I wouldn’t want to live within 10,000 miles of him!! tables or no tablets
What bothers me the most here is that it took the attendents so long to call the cops. Whether the guy is a danger or not (and the longer he’s without his meds, the more likely that becomes), he’s in their custody. If I took a group of schoolchildren to the fair, lost one, and didn’t bother to report it for over an hour, the press (not to mention my boss) would be all over my butt, and rightly so.
With most schizophrenics, the biggest danger they pose is to themselves. But when you have someone whose voices tell him to hurt people (there may have been only one murder, but it sounds like “assaults” were rather more common), he IS a danger to others, unless he can be kept well-regulated on medications. Whether it seemed to someone to make sense to take him to the fair or not, authorities should have been notified immediately when they lost track of him.
Redwolf
According to the 10 pm news, authorities think Mr. Paul is headed for his family in Sunnyside, Washington.
His former attorney who is also a friend says he’s fine if he’s on his medication, but Mr. Paul feels his medication makes him weak. The attorney is reported as stating that Mr. Paul enjoys wood carving. (Does this scare anyone else?)
The news reported that there were 31 patients in the group, and 11 caregivers. I don’t know if that’s considered a safe ratio of attendants to patients or not. I haven’t heard what kind of mental problems the rest of the group has. DSHS is looking into the matter.
Authorities believe he was missing for about 2 hours before the police were called.
A criminally insane killer who strangled a woman because voices told him she was a witch
Maybe if he met one or two witches he might feel less aggressive towards them. Did anybody try that, eh? eh? 
People who escape from prison more often than not go home.
The police go to their home and wait for them. Or the escapee
goes to his favorite bar and says: Hi fellas, I’m back. This fellow, merely ‘criminally insane,’
is also going home.
Also violence tends to diminish drastically as folks get older. Big difference tween
25 and 47. Bad situation, but probably not the beginning of a horror movie.
People like to have demons. ‘Sexual predators’ are seldom a problem after 50.
But some states try to institutionalize them by civil proceedings after
they get out of jail. Convicted murderers have a very low recidivism
rate–they are less likely than other offenders to commit another
crime if released from prison. But ‘murderers’ are often thought of
as kill-crazed monsters who want to kill again and again…
Caution, sure, but realism too.
I saw that movie!!!
With a history of escape and assault I think that it would have been prudent to keep better track of the individuals. If we can give Martha Stewart an ankle bracelet, why not flight risks? Two hours seem to be a long time, I have given science demonstrations to boy scouts, and if I misplaced them for that amount of time the consequences for me would have been bad.
That being said, I never trust the “news” to give the whole story. How about that CNN report about ten rounds being fired in DC last Sept. 11?
I agree, but is this true for mental illness? Is he even a convicted murderer? He has a history of assault, the man seems to need protection from himself as much as others need protection from him. The care givers seemed to have failed to protect both.
That’s a big problem, really, and a reason why schizophrenics so often go off their meds. They DO, often, make them feel “altered” and “slowed down.” Sometimes, if they’re lucky enough to have good insurance and a good doctor and a supportive family, a balance of medication can be found that allows them to feel good while remaining in touch with reality…but if this guy is at Eastern, under a charge of murder, I’m guessing he’s had none of the above in his life.
There’s no getting around the fact that schizophrenia isn’t curable. It is treatable, and often maintainable. It’s a cruel, cruel, bitch of an illness. If a person can manage to stay well-regulated on meds, he or she can sometimes live something close to a normal life. But when a person has a history, not only of going off his meds, but of committing violent acts while unmedicated, the only real choice is to keep him confined in a situation where he HAS to take his meds.
This man is ill. He is ill, and doesn’t have the medications that keep him, for want of a better word, in remission. The longer he is gone, the sicker he will become, and the less likely he will be to be able to regulate himself. By letting this happen, the attendents were not only woefully inconsiderate of the safety of the community, they were criminally neglectful in their care of this very sick human being.
Redwolf
Is there anything new with this story?
After reviewing his files a judge felt that Paul was healthy enough to attend a community college without supervision, so I doubt that he is a serious threat to society, at least no more so than those who drive while distracted, drunk, texting, or engaged in a serious conversation on their cell phones. Those are the people that I worry about as I cruise about town on the 2-way streets.
This is from KXLY.com, which is the TV station that first broke the story yesterday:
Friends say Phillip Paul allowed to live at Carlyle
Posted: Sep 18, 2009 2:41 PM PDT
Updated: Sep 18, 2009 6:00 PM PDTAlso See:
Hospital believes they did the right thing
Friends say Phillip Paul allowed to live at Carlyle
Search continues for escaped killer
Criminally insane killer disappears from fair
Story by:
Erik Loney / KXLY4 ReporterSPOKANE - While the community is up in arms over a criminally insane killer being allowed to visit the fair Thursday, apparently Eastern State Hospital allowed Phillip Paul to live on his own in downtown Spokane up until several months ago.Friends of Phillip Paul say that he has been living at the Carlyle located at Post and 2nd for several years and it was only recently that he returned to live full time at Eastern State Hospital. While living at the Carlyle Paul had the freedom to walk around downtown Spokane within a six block radius of the hotel without supervision.
“I met Paul at Riverfront Park a few months ago and he gave me one of his CDs,” Rick Harpman said.
The CD Rick is referring to is a collection of songs sung by Paul including such tracks as “Nut Hut” and “Rockin’ and Rollin’ in a mental institution,” where Paul sings about living at Eastern State Hospital.
And his freedom to roam extended from beyond the Carlyle and out into cyberspace where Paul kept a collection of his greatest hits on his personal MySpace page.
Rick Harpman is a friend of Paul’s and feels like he’s not a dangerous person, though he readily admits he’s never seen Paul off his medications so he couldn’t say what he’s like when he’s unmedicated.
“If I felt somebody was a danger I wouldn’t be around him,” Harpman said.
Harpman says he wasn’t surprised to hear Paul was the the Spokane County Fair Thursday. Harpman says that Paul had been living downtown for a while.
“He’s been out among people downtown area. He used to have a two-block radios, then it went up to a six-block radius,” Harpman said.
Harpman didn’t know and no one has been able to confirm why Paul’s living arrangements were modified and he went back to living at Eastern State Hospital full-time several months ago. He did say she wasn’t surprised Phillip Paul escaped because he wants his freedom back.
“He’s going to go where he knows somebody, you’re out here and if you’re a fugitive who’s going to help him? Does he have friends? I don’t think there are too many friends that will help him, there is a scare right now,” he said.
He added that there’s one thing that Paul doesn’t want and that’s to go back to Eastern State Hospital or be taken off to jail.
When asked under what conditions Paul’s permissions to live at the Carlyle had been revoked, Eastern State Hospital refused to comment.
Now, Redwolf will back me up on this – Riverfront Park, where his friends met him several times, is more than 6 blocks from the apartment he was living in.
I wonder why he was allowed to bring a backpack to the fair? You don’t need a backpack full of things for a couple of hours at the fair. I heard a rumor, and I admit it’s only a rumor, that the staff has no idea what was in the backpack.
It’s been reported that the people who were supervising the patients at the fair notified the hospital inside of 5 minutes after they noticed him missing, but the hospital waited almost 2 hours before notifying the police, and no one notified the fair until the news crews showed up and started asking questions.
KREM TV has a video of the head of DSHS answering questions about the case at http://www.krem.com/video/featured-index.html?nvid=399887 I don’t know how long they keep videos on the website but I’m sure it will be there for a few days.
And KREM is now saying the FBI may get involved.
DSHS says they are investigating the case and they should have a report in about 15 days.
There have been quite a few reports of sightings today and each time it was near a school the school went into lockdown. So far the only confirmed sighting was from yesterday when he went into a business and asked for a job application.