KHQ Right Now - News and Weather for Spokane and North Idaho | House committee approves bill restricting outings of certain mentally ill patients

House committee approves bill restricting outings of certain mentally ill patients

OLYMPIA, Wash. - A bill prompted by the escape last fall of criminally-insane killer Phillip Paul won approval Monday in the House Human Services Committee.

House Bill 2717, prime-sponsored by Rep. Matt Shea, R-Spokane Valley, would restrict outings of certain institutionalized mentally-ill patients.

In September, Paul, who had brutally murdered an elderly Sunnyside woman in 1987, was taken on a "therapeutic outing" with other Eastern State Hospital patients to the Spokane County Fair, where he simply walked away. It took two hours before authorities were notified and three days before Paul was recaptured some 250 miles away in Goldendale, Washington.

Under the bill, a person committed to a state facility for the purpose of determining competency, restoring competency, or as the result of a finding of "not guilty by reason of insanity," would not be allowed to leave the state institution where he or she has been committed, except under certain circumstances.

Those specific circumstances include:

• Necessary medical or legal proceedings not available in the facility where the person is confined
• Visits to the bedside of a member of the person's immediate 15 family who is seriously ill
• Attendance at the funeral of a member of the person's immediate family

"I think the entire city of Spokane and all of Eastern Washington were in shock when this killer was taken to the fairgrounds where children were with their families and he walked off," said Shea. "We must assure the public that this will never be allowed to happen again."

Shea says the measure is aimed to prevent this kind of escape in the future.

The measure now goes to the House Rules Committee for further consideration.

- Information from Washington House Republicans