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Escaped inmate had violent past
Wednesday, March 28, 2007 | No comments posted.
SALEM (AP) - In 1972, Arturo Amezcua Salinas killed a man with a claw hammer. Eighteen years later, he raped the wife of a man who offered him a place to stay in Clackamas County.
Despite the violent background, the state assigned him to the minimum-security Santiam Correctional Institution when he returned to prison last year to serve a 15-month sentence for stealing beer from a Woodburn market.
Amezcua escaped Sunday. The 53-year-old was on the loose for one night and turned up Monday more than 20 miles from the prison. For more than five hours, he held hostage a 70-year-old man confined to a wheelchair.
The standoff police ended when police officers stormed the house and captured Amezcua.
State prison officials said Tuesday they placed Amezcua in the minimum-security prison because he appeared to be a low risk. Officials say they took into account his advancing age, his recent record of nonviolent conduct and the fact that the murder took place more than 30 years ago.
“We missed on this one,” prisons spokeswoman Norma Land acknowledged to The Oregonian newspaper.
Amezcua's former parole officers agreed. One of them, Paul Dalton, questioned why Amezcua wasn't kept under tighter watch. “He should never have been on minimal supervision,” said Dalton, who supervised Amezcua when he got out of prison after serving about 11 years of a life sentence for murder. “Every time he gets out he victimizes someone. He has absolutely no conscience.”
Jerry LaBach, a retired supervisor for Clackamas County Community Corrections, agreed: “There's nothing behind those eyes. He'll do anything to anybody.”
Brian Bemus, capacity and resources manager for the prison system, said officials are trying to determine how Amezcua escaped. Though the Santiam facility hasn't had an escape in years, Amezcua is the fourth inmate to escape from an Oregon prison or work crew in four months.
Loren Headley, whom Amezcua took hostage Monday, said Amezcua walked through his front door at about noon. Headley said that last summer, shortly after his leg was amputated, he let Amezcua live with him to help with household chores.
Minutes after Amezcua arrived, dozens of police officers surrounded the mobile home, and Headley knew something was up.
“I said' What did you do? Escape?' ”
Despite the violent background, the state assigned him to the minimum-security Santiam Correctional Institution when he returned to prison last year to serve a 15-month sentence for stealing beer from a Woodburn market.
Amezcua escaped Sunday. The 53-year-old was on the loose for one night and turned up Monday more than 20 miles from the prison. For more than five hours, he held hostage a 70-year-old man confined to a wheelchair.
The standoff police ended when police officers stormed the house and captured Amezcua.
State prison officials said Tuesday they placed Amezcua in the minimum-security prison because he appeared to be a low risk. Officials say they took into account his advancing age, his recent record of nonviolent conduct and the fact that the murder took place more than 30 years ago.
“We missed on this one,” prisons spokeswoman Norma Land acknowledged to The Oregonian newspaper.
Amezcua's former parole officers agreed. One of them, Paul Dalton, questioned why Amezcua wasn't kept under tighter watch. “He should never have been on minimal supervision,” said Dalton, who supervised Amezcua when he got out of prison after serving about 11 years of a life sentence for murder. “Every time he gets out he victimizes someone. He has absolutely no conscience.”
Jerry LaBach, a retired supervisor for Clackamas County Community Corrections, agreed: “There's nothing behind those eyes. He'll do anything to anybody.”
Brian Bemus, capacity and resources manager for the prison system, said officials are trying to determine how Amezcua escaped. Though the Santiam facility hasn't had an escape in years, Amezcua is the fourth inmate to escape from an Oregon prison or work crew in four months.
Loren Headley, whom Amezcua took hostage Monday, said Amezcua walked through his front door at about noon. Headley said that last summer, shortly after his leg was amputated, he let Amezcua live with him to help with household chores.
Minutes after Amezcua arrived, dozens of police officers surrounded the mobile home, and Headley knew something was up.
“I said' What did you do? Escape?' ”
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