The man accused of randomly attacking a federal security officer at Pioneer Courthouse in July was fresh out of prison through a state early release program to reward good behavior and reduce the prison population while saving money.
Jett Avery Thomas, 39, was let out of prison just a week before prosecutors say he placed the security officer in a chokehold, grabbed the guard’s radio and smashed him in the head with it. The officer shot Thomas twice in the torso to stop the attack, authorities said.
Thomas is now in federal custody, facing more serious allegations of assaulting a federal officer.
His criminal record includes a series of felony convictions for bizarre and threatening behavior including lighting a fire at a Northwest Portland hotel, using a skateboard to break the windows of passing cars and threatening a pedestrian with a knife. He also was convicted of grabbing a Multnomah County jail deputy by the neck, punching him and pushing him into a desk in an alleged unprovoked attack in 2017.
He was in prison the latest time for threatening a woman with a shovel and sentenced last September to a year and five months with credit for time-served. He pleaded guilty to unlawful use of a weapon and criminal mischief, both felonies.
His original release date was in November, but Thomas left state prison on June 26 to a residential men’s shelter in Multnomah County under Oregon’s short-term transitional leave program, according to Amber Campbell, a state corrections spokesperson.
He met the program’s guidelines, Campbell said.
The program has existed in some form since 1989, but the Legislature extended release periods in 2013 and again in 2017. The state has approved more than 12,400 prisoners for transitional release since 2014.
The early transitional release program has drawn criticism from prosecutors and crime victim advocates for cutting penalties short but praise from the state Criminal Justice Commission and state corrections officials as a way to reduce incarceration costs and prisoner numbers while kick-starting prisoners’ return to their communities.
The commission, designated to track the program’s effectiveness, hasn’t provided annual reports in recent years, citing pandemic complications, but provided numbers at the request of The Oregonian/OregonLive that showed Thomas is among about 11% of the people accused of reoffending during their transition periods.
Seven days after his release, Thomas failed to show for his required treatment session for substance abuse and mental health evaluation.
He had been arrested and transported by ambulance to a hospital for surgery that morning after prosecutors say he attacked the courthouse guard.
LEAVE TIME EXTENDED
Prisoners eligible for the state transition program must have a good record with no serious misconduct or new crimes while in custody, according to the program rules.
They also can’t have failed any corrections programs within 15 months of their release. The county where they go must approve a transition plan with acceptable housing.
Prisoners can request the short-term transition releases when they meet with corrections counselors before their designated release dates. The requests go to the county of proposed release for investigation and approval.
Lawmakers in 2017 extended the length of transition releases from up to 90 days to 120 days before prison terms expire. But the longer period is allowed only for prisoners sentenced on or after Jan. 1, 2018.
In 2017, the Legislature also excluded prisoners from the program who had been sentenced for major felony sex crimes, aggravated theft involving a victim over age 65, selling drugs to a minor and felony driving under the influence of intoxicants.
Jeremiah Stromberg, then assistant director of the Corrections Department, told legislators at the time that less than 5% of those approved for the program failed within the first 30 to 90 days.
Those released also had lower recidivism rates in the first two years after their transitional releases than those who weren’t granted the early leave, Stromberg reported.
The ACLU’s Kimberly McCullough, the group’s policy director at the time and now legislative director at Oregon Department of Justice, supported the extended releases, writing to lawmakers that it “will create savings in prison costs that can be invested into community corrections, addiction and mental health treatment, reentry programs, and victim services.’’
In 2017, Timothy Colahan, executive director of the Oregon District Attorneys Association, and Steve Doell, president of Crime Victims United, opposed the extension of short term transitional leave. Colahan said it was based “entirely on a desire to save money, not on evidence-based factors targeting the reduction of crime.” Doell added, “Should we help offenders get on the right path? Absolutely. But not at the expense of more victims.”
The Criminal Justice Commission reported last year that it wasn’t able to issue its state-mandated yearly report on how people on transitional leave fared because the pandemic caused fluctuating prisoner numbers and Gov. Kate Brown’s commutations created “substantial overlap” with prisoners who would have been eligible for transitional release. Its 2022 report called the data on the program “difficult to interpret.”
But information obtained by the Oregonian/OregonLive through a public records request shows that about 11% of 11,839 prisoners granted short-term transitional release from 30 to 120 days from January 2014 through this past February failed by committing a new crime or violating their release conditions.
Last month, the state Corrections Department granted 124 prisoners release 120 days before their prison term was to end. That marked the second highest month of transitional leaves — just behind July 2020, when 129 inmates were released 120 days before completing their sentences, according to the state’s data.
SEVEN DAYS AFTER RELEASE
Multnomah County found that Thomas met the short-term transition release criteria and found a placement for him in subsidized housing, said Jessica Morkert-Shibley, a county spokesperson.
He reported to county officials for intake as directed on the day of his release and met his supervising probation officer, who conducted a home visit, according to the county.
Conditions of his release included that he undergo a mental health evaluation, continue to take his psychiatric or psychotropic medication, not possess or use alcohol and other controlled substances and have no contact with any of his victims.
Thomas’ initial release date was projected for Nov. 30 but was moved up to Sept. 19 when he got additional credit for time served in custody as he awaited sentencing after his indictment. Under the transitional leave program, he was released 86 days earlier than his amended September release date, according to Campbell, of the corrections department.
On July 3, the day he was supposed to report for treatment, he’s accused of climbing over the metal fence outside the Pioneer Courthouse in downtown about 6:20 a.m.
He charged up the stairs toward the security officer, grabbing the door and pushing his way inside, according to a federal affidavit. Once inside, Thomas punched the officer in the head four to six times with a closed fist and pinned the officer to the wall while holding him by the throat, according to surveillance video described in the affidavit.
Thomas then forced the officer out the front door and down the front steps, according to the affidavit. When the officer tried to use his handheld radio to call for help, Thomas put the officer in a chokehold, grabbed the radio and struck the officer in the head with it twice, the affidavit says.
At one point, the officer was able to twist away, grab his gun and fire two shots at close range into Thomas’ torso, according to the affidavit.
The officer, Brett Elliott, hasn’t returned to work. He suffered head, jaw, neck and back pain, according to court records.
Before his most recent arrest, Thomas had six felony convictions for two burglaries, first-degree arson, an assault on a public safety officer, methamphetamine possession and reckless endangerment.
He previously had his probation revoked for failing to abide by a condition of release in the arson case, and he racked up a total of six parole violations on the various felonies, according to court records.
He had been sentenced in early March 2021 to three years of probation for first-degree arson after he wrapped a blanket around a natural gas pipe that fed into the Marriott Residence Inn on Northwest Ninth Avenue and set the blanket on fire in 2020, according to court records. Firefighters put out the fire, according to state corrections and court records.
In that same case, he was accused of slamming a rock into a driver’s windshield, breaking a window at a coffee shop and threatening a pedestrian with a pair of scissors.
Also in 2020, he was arrested after a caller reported that he was striking passing cars with a skateboard and upon arrest was found with heroin, court records show. He was convicted of criminal mischief.
As part of his probation, he was ordered not to trespass at the Marriott and to comply with Multnomah County’s mental health court and its conditions. If he violated the conditions or committed a new crime, he agreed to face between two to two and a half years in prison under the plea agreement and sentence.
By December 2021, he was taken back into custody and his probation revoked after he had changed his residence without his probation officer’s permission, according to court records.
Thomas recently appeared in court via video from federal prison in Sheridan.
He sat in a wheelchair and entered not guilty pleas to a three-count indictment charging him with aggravated assault on a federal employee involving a dangerous weapon, aggravated assault involving physical contact and aggravated assault resulting in injury.
He told the judge he anticipated being in a wheelchair for at least a year.
