A patient at Oregon State Hospital died of a suspected fentanyl overdose on Friday, and Oregon State Police are investigating the circumstances, police said. 

A spokesperson for the police agency confirmed the investigation to the Capital Chronicle late Friday but had no other details. Separately, the Oregon State Hospital sent a memo to staff on Friday and announced it is temporarily halting in-person patient visits with friends and family. The state-run psychiatric hospital in Salem has more than 600 patients. 

“Because of a significant incident related to passing of contraband from a visitor to a patient, we are pausing in-person visitation effective immediately,” the hospital’s interim superintendent, Sara Walker, wrote in a Friday email to staffers. 

Larry Bingham, a spokesman for the Oregon Health Authority, which oversees the hospital, declined to comment about the incident when asked about the overdose. 

The case is the latest in a string of incidents that have temporarily put the state hospital in the crosshairs of the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which inspects hospitals that receive federal funding. A federal report released earlier this month flagged problems that included blind spots in the security camera system, a failure to adequately monitor patients and the distribution of condoms to patients even though they aren’t allowed to have sex with each other. The hospital also has overhauled how it stores its emergency life-saving equipment after federal officials inspected the facility following a patient death shortly after the patient’s admission. Inspectors found that the critical equipment stored in a disorganized way.

Walker’s memo did not mention that the incident involved a suspected fentanyl overdose nor that police are investigating. 

“This was a decision the executive team did not make lightly,” Walker’s message said. “We know how important in-person visits are to patients and those who love them, and we know we are making the decision on a Friday before a holiday weekend.”

Walker did not say when visits would resume. She said the pause will be “as short as we can” while the hospital reviews visitation policies and procedures to ensure in-person visits are safe for patients, families and staff. 

Walker directed staff to notify patients and visitors with a prepared script that apologized for the suspension. Patients still have access to video visits. 

The restrictions come after patients and family have enjoyed more freedom to have in-person visits after pandemic-era restrictions were fully lifted in 2023. 

The easy availability of fentanyl in Oregon has fueled an overdose crisis in Oregon, with people consuming the powerful drug in public. That’s led to the Legislature recriminalizing possession of illegal drugs. A new law signed by Gov. Tina Kotek will lead to new programs throughout the state to encourage people to enter treatment and avoid court charges for drug possession. 

Six members of Oregon’s congressional delegation sent a letter Friday to the Federal Bureau of Prisons demanding “swift action” on staffing shortages, inmate medical needs and other “alarming” issues at the Federal Correctional Institute in Sheridan.

The demands come after a report released by the Department of Justice’s Office of the Inspector General on Wednesday found “several serious safety and security issues” at FCI Sheridan impacting employees and inmates.

FCI Sheridan houses male inmates at its medium-security prison and minimum-security prison camp which opened in 1989 and at a detention center which opened in 1995.

What the report from the Department of Justice’s Office of the Inspector General found

The DOJ OIG conducted an unannounced, on-site inspection of FCI Sheridan between Nov. 27 and Dec. 1, 2023, interviewing employees and inmates, reviewing security footage and collecting records related to programs for inmates and education; staffing levels; inmate medical and mental health care; and employee and inmate misconduct.

The medium-security prison was housing 988 inmates within its eight general population units and one special housing unit as of Nov. 28. It was at full capacity, according to the inspector general’s report. The federal detention center was housing 291 inmates, 97% of its capacity, and the camp had 366 inmates, 95% of its capacity.

Among the issues identified was staff shortages. According to the report, FCI Sheridan had 81% of 357 positions filled, and significant use of overtime or “augmentation” was required for the correctional officer posts.

“Even with the use of overtime and augmentation, we found that institution management is not always able to fill all correctional officer posts, which has caused inmates to be minimally supervised or, in certain instances, not supervised at all,” the report said.

The staffing shortages also meant “significant delays” in inmate health care. FCI Sheridan had been without a phlebotomist to draw and prepare blood samples since March 2022, leading to a backlog of 725 lab orders, according to the report. After the on-site visit, FCI Sheridan hired an on-site phlebotomist and reported the backlog was now 44 lab orders as of May. A backlog of 274 X-ray orders was also reduced to 84 following the visit.

Without enough correctional officers to escort inmates to outside appointments, 101 appointments for medical care had been canceled between January and November 2023. Dental care was also delayed at the facility with 350 inmates waiting for routine dental care in October 2023. Of those 350 inmates, 41% had been waiting for two years or more, the report said.

The Residential Drug Abuse Program was suspended entirely three days after the unannounced visit, according to the report. The program had fewer than one-third of the positions filled during the inspection and inmates reported concerns and frustration with their inability to participate in the nine-month program meant to help them address substance-abuse disorders. The program also earns inmates with no violent offenses in their history a one-year reduction credit on their sentence.

“We know this program has since been suspended entirely and the majority of inmates eligible for RDAP were transferred to other facilities offering this programming,” Oregon U.S. Sens. Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley and U.S. Reps. Earl Blumenauer, Suzanne Bonamici, Andrea Salinas, and Val Hoyle wrote on Friday. “This is an important program for prisoners suffering from substance use disorder and we are concerned it is no longer available at FCI Sheridan.”

‘Deficiencies showcase a comprehensive failure by leadership’

The Democratic legislators wrote they were also concerned with the reported length to investigate and address employee misconduct allegations — 1.5 years in some cases — and the lack of a way to centrally track the number of allegations of inmate-on-inmate sexual misconduct reported to FCI Sheridan employees.

“While we are glad to see FCI Sheridan is now tracking this, we are concerned this was not the case less than six months ago,” the letter said.

The legislators wrote they were concerned with the written response from Federal Bureau of Prisons Director Colette Peters.

“Taken together, these deficiencies showcase a comprehensive failure by leadership at FCI Sheridan and BOP to protect both inmates and prison staff,” the letter said.

Wyden, Merkley, Blumenauer, Salinas, Hoyle and Bonamici included a list of questions in their letter they want answered by the Bureau of Prisons by June 14. They include:

• How many current vacancies, broken down by position, are there at FCI Sheridan?
• How many employees are under investigation for misconduct?
• How does BOP plan to ensure there is a special investigative agent on staff so that similar investigatory backlogs do not occur in the future?
• Does BOP plan to authorize additional staff positions at FCI Sheridan? If so, how many?
• How many inmates are currently waiting to receive routine dental care?
• What does BOP plan to do to reduce the waiting time for dental care?
• What plans does BOP have in place to ensure inmates needing supplemental oxygen are able to receive it in a timely manner?
• When was FCI Sheridan most recently accredited by the Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Health Care?
• What plans does BOP have in place to ensure a backlog of medical testing does not occur again?
• Does BOP plan to maintain a phlebotomist on staff at FCI Sheridan?
• Does BOP plan to restart the RDAP at FCI Sheridan? If so, when?
• Does BOP plan to digitize all security cameras within FCI Sheridan? If so, by what date?
• Does BOP plan to fund the estimated $21.6 million in infrastructure upgrades needed at FCI Sheridan? If so, by what date?
• Does BOP plan to adopt all of DOJ OIG’s recommendations? If not, why?
• What resources does BOP need from Congress to address these issues across the network of federal prisons?

Dianne Lugo covers the Oregon Legislature and equity issues. Reach her at dlugo@statesmanjournal.com or on X @DianneLugo

A far-right anti-government group appears to be making inroads into the Republican Party at the grassroots level. The Guardian reports that at least 66 members of People’s Rights Oregon 5, a subgroup of the People’s Rights Network founded by anti-government militant Ammon Bundy in 2020, ran for positions in three Oregon counties this week. It’s not clear exactly how many were elected as Republican precinct committee persons—PCPs—but some of them faced no opposition. PCPs elect Republican leaders at the county level and the People’s Rights Oregon 5 effort appears to be a “coordinated attempt to capture the local Republican party infrastructure,” reports the Guardian.

The Guardian says it was informed about the group’s activities by an amateur radio operator who intercepted and recorded dozens of hours of conversations on a private radio network set up by the PRN. In the Oregon group’s early years, the conversations mainly focused on efforts to counter COVID mask and vaccine mandates, but they were later dominated by discussion of local Republican politics—especially after members were able to take control of the GOP central committee in Deschutes County. The Guardian says it confirmed its source’s information by cross-matching FCC records of radio callsigns.

Devin Burghart at the Institute for Research and Education on Human Rights, which researches far-right groups, tells the Guardian that the group is following the “precinct strategy” espoused by Steve Bannon, among others. “They want to take over the local party apparatus and change it from the ground up,” he says. It’s not clear how many other PRN chapters have similar plans. The group has split states into areas and Burghart says People’s Rights Oregon 5, which has around 1,400 members, is “one of the most successful areas in terms of organization.” (More Ammon Bundy stories.)