30 years after made-for-movie jailbreak, man gets parole hearing
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PORTLAND, Ore. – A convicted felon will go before a parole board Wednesday morning and ask to be set free. But this isn't just any prisoner.
In 1982, Stephen Kessler crafted a cunning scheme and escaped from the old Rocky Butte Jail in Portland.
A prison guard who was held hostage during that escape passionately opposes setting Kessler free.
The escape rivaled the "Shawshank Redemption."
Six inmates pretended to be priests. Their mastermind, Kessler, was a smart and manipulative bank robber.
And behind the sturdy stone walls in the summer of 1982, Kessler and his cohorts concocted a plan to steal their own freedom.
"July 25. It was a Sunday afternoon, which was fairly quiet in the jail," said Jim Turney, a former 
Rocky Butte Jail guard, on Tuesday.
Since it was a Sunday, volunteer chaplains walked the cell blocks, preaching peace.
Kessler, 42 years old at the time, turned to violence, overpowering the men of God with a smuggled gun, stealing their clothes before surprising rookie Sgt. Jim Turney in the mess hall.
"My first thought was, 'what the (expletive deleted) is Steve doing in civilian clothes?" Turney said. "I grabbed for the gun. Well, there were three inmates there. Three to one is not good odds. I got knocked down and kicked."
Turney was hurt but not as bad as his colleague.
"The real injustice is to Deputy Irv Burkett who was shot," Turney said. "He lived the rest of his life in a lot of pain – in a wheelchair, in a hospital bed."
Thirty years later, Turney's retired. Kessler, who was captured just a month after escaping, is now a much older man, pushing 70 in the Oregon State Penitentiary.
Turney's not happy that Kessler could be a free man. The prisoner who got the best of him that July afternoon could find his freedom again – this time, the legal way at a parole hearing.
But Turney plans a vehement plea and a five-page speech to stop it.
Wednesday at 10 a.m. will be the first time the two men will see each other since the escape.
If Turney could be one-on-one with Kessler, he would say this to him: "Hey, Steve, what's the deal with the gun? How did that thing get in there? What did we miss?"
Kessler does have a few friends in the right places. One of them is the very same judge who sentenced him after he was captured. The judge wrote a letter to the parole board, saying Kessler should be released and that he's reflected on what's done.
The board won't decide Wednesday. The hearing is a first step.
Seems as though the article was written by someone who has never seen Shawshank Redemption. In what way did this "rival Shawshank Redemption"? (other than someone escaping from prison)
@donaldchick That's what I thought too. Where was the trip down the sewer?
OK, Nick Danner, now that you have had your minute of fame by pasting your not fully accurate blather across portland news sites, now please crawl back under your rock . . . And by the way, the cop that got shot; he was a stone cold pri*ck on the job; and what kind of fool argues with a gun at close range? No sympathy here.
 @MD20-20 You stated I pasted , just so were are clear I worked in Rocky Butte jail from 1981 to 1983 and the Oregon Dept of Correction from 1983 to 1986 and California Dept of Correction from 1986 to 1989 and then back to Oregon Dept of Corrections from 1989 to 1999 additionally I interviewed 100's of inmates including many well known inmates like Steven Kessler.....I did find it amazing how none of the inmates who were trustee's at the time of the escape were ever interviewed about the gun that was smuggled into the Butte... I personally would have,  I would have wanted to interview Big Sam Brown, John Whitefoot Jr, Wesley Frison, Mark Abbott, Kelly Goss,  and several others who were trustee's in F Tank at that time.....Later the trustee's were housed in a basement cell block to keep these inmates away from general population...I  believe they never went after the gun smuggler because the Sheriff's didn't wan't to admit that the jail security was like a flour sift.  Anybody could have arranged to have drugs smuggled by offering half of what ever was smuggled into the jail.. That's the way it was...I left Oregon to work in California and found that the grass was not greener,  and if you want to talk about Prick's that work for the system,  well that's California,  Oregon has been super tame compared to LA county jail or San Quentin State Prison.. I personally never saw a Oregon Guard kick the stuffing out of a inmate for no reason in Oregon,  but I did see that in California....Just for the record...In Oregon we had super nice and compassionate cops like Steven Long,  one of the nicest person's I've met who was a guard....Burkett was a very nice man and I never saw him do anything that would have been considered improper.
@Nick Danner @MD20-20 Good post, with some good points. All except for the lat few lines.Â
 @MD20-20 With all due respect,  you are full of it,,  Deputy Irv Burkett was as nice as any other Deputy if you were a prick you got treated like a prick..  Apparently you were the latter.
@Nick Danner @MD20-20  lets try this one again. Sir, you did not get to the butte until 1981; my experience there was ten years earlier. And yes, they did beat folks in those days; ever heard the stories about a hack named Gary "hoghead" Harris? They are true. As it was at Washington county and OSP, per my observations and experiences. You just came along after hacks got unionized and their pay actually grew past minimum wage level, which caused the guard force to change as more civilized and educated personnel moved into that profession, which had started paying decently. So we are speacking, to some degree, about two distince working classes over time. Now, the guy that got shot, he was an old timer, part of the old school, as it were. So I question your ability to tell me what I saw ten years before you got there. And can I be a prick; certainly I have my moments, but generally I just go with the flow. Up to a point.
@Nick Danner @MD20-20 OK, now that we got past this point, I do wnt to say I did not claim Burket had ever actually physically abused anyone, I just said he ws a prick. The kind of hack that ignores one's reasonable requests, for example, or comes to the hole and blows smoke in your face (no smokes in the hold, remember), tears up a book "looking" for contraband; that kind of behvius most would agree is beyound his mandate, though technically not abuse; just deliberately, and for no real reason making one's life more miserable than an inmates already is. In the Oregonian today it stated that Steven has admitted that Burket had given him a smoke one day, so maybe he was mellowed out by '82. I will give the man that much credit. And did I rejoice at his death? No, but he was an on the job hack, and that was part of the game. And like I said earlier, what kind of fool argues with a gun at close range?
@Nick Danner @MD20-20 And that is what happens in the penitentiary, and you know that. You also should know that those that get whacked in the joint usually have it coming based on the rules of that culture (unpaid debts, snitching, etc.). These aren't killings for the heck of it, they are usually business or just getting down first. The rules are different there, as you well know.
@MD20-20 @Nick Danner Additionally Steve committed many very ruthless crimes that involved other murders including 2 that were committed while in the Pen.
@MD20-20 @Nick Danner  Ok I will agree that pre 1980's that the guards were pretty bad..But as you pointed out I was post 1980's and I never saw Burkett treat any inmate with anything but professional behavior....Maybe you are right maybe he, Burkett was a bad ass in the early years of his career...That still isn't a great reason to rejoice in his death..
@Nick Danner @MD20-20 You did not come into the Oregon system until 1981; my history at the but
Just for all of you who have said he never killed anyone, Â see link below...I happen to know that Steve is very dangerous even at 69 and he was suspected of several murders, Â that's how he got his nick name of Casper the ghost...
One more thing Jim Turney  I am glad to see you made it to retirement you were a good guy even in the face of really messed up folks at the Butte....Jim I think everyone knows that Steve got that gun from the trustee's in F tank who went outside often to take garbage out of the jail...I know for a fact that's how he got drugs and in my opinion that's how he got the gun....Inmates are very resourceful and have been know to stick things up their rectums as large as a 38 cal revolver.
The State Gov wants him out so they can have him bump a few of their enemies off. Goldschmidt must be really pissed at Phil Stanford.
If my memory serves me correct, his nickname was Casper the ghost. Yes my memory is correct, see link. If I remember he was suspected of not one but more than one prison murder...Â
http://thetribonline.net/news/story.php?story_id=1...
>>>I'd bet the Feds in Marion Federal Pen Illinois super max would be shocked to hear that Steve was even being considered for parole..
>>>So are we going to release Randy Woodfield because he reads good, and went to college on the tax payers dime? When Randy needs a heart bypass surgery, then we will release him too?..
>>>Next the I-5 bandit will get a release date because we as a State can't afford to pay for his medical care...<<
>>The real truth is the State does not want to pay for his expensive medical care as he gets older...This is a common used trick on the public...Just happened with a drug dealer resently named Barney a drag strip racing drug dealer, the feds didnt want to pay for his expensive medical bill so they released him again even know Barney was arrested again for large scale drug dealing...
No way should Steve be paroled...I have met and interviewed Steve and he is unrepentant and is a danger to the public...I saw Steve who was housed in Max security at the Butte in April of 1982 contrary to what Retired officer turney said, he was a problem and that's why he was in segregation during his stay at the Butte before the escape...Officer Turney is a honorable man but he is mistaken saying he was "describing Kessler as "calm, cool and collected" and a "model prisoner" before the escape". Jim a model prisoner does not smuggle a gun into a jail...I know this is a sore subject but, model prisoner's don't run a jail drug smuggling operation either..These are facts. Also the day I interveiwed Steve he was acting out violently about not getting coffee from the trustee fast enough or enough period...He is a very dangerous person and should never be released.
Stevie is back, but will he make it out of the gates?
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Perhaps, but all involved including former USA, AUSA's, FBI/USM agents that are still alive will testify either in person or via phone. Some will say let him out and others will say keep him in.
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My guess after this many years he will get released, we all change with age.
Ya know what's really dumb? Dude was in a County Jail, not the State Pen. Chances are, whatever he was in for, he would not have been there that much longer. Chances are, he would have been out in months. If he had done something worse, he would have been in prison. Unless he was biding his time in County, awaiting a longer sentence in the big house, to go to the extreme he did, shooting a guard in the process and ruining that guy's life..well..he has no right being set free IMO.
 @STDFlorist Kessler -- who was being held on a federal indictment for a string of bank robberies and heroin trafficking --
For more info: http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2013/02/notorious_bank_robber_stephen.html
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Not a very good story when we don't know why he was in prison in the first place.
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But I don't think they should release him since his crimes in this article alone were so violent. That he's been kept alive this long is a disgrace.
 @Spiffy Kessler, was a smart and manipulative bank robber
How's he going to live? Â He's been in prison most of his life, he won't get squat for Social Security. Â The only real way of life he knows is the joint.Â
@Oldret How about this:Â a section 8 free house, food stamps, an obama phone, total health coverage with medicaid and cash for cigarettes by renting out beds in his free house.
"Shawshank Redemption"spoiler alert.
Nice to see the media glorifying a killer
 @Jax09 This article has nothing to do with automobiles.
 @Jax09 Guess I missed the part where he killed someone?  I saw that he shot someone (who survived), but killed?
 @Sundowner  @Jax09Â
The way the system works is that if a person dies much later from injuries caused by trauma then that is what is on the death certificate. In this case it would be death from a gun shot. Being that Kessler pulled the trigger he would be classified as a killer.
 @SundownerÂ
It's more than likely a cost benefit analysis. He was in prison for life with a chance of parole after 30 years for various charges including assault with a deadly weapon and attempted murder. The best they DA could have gotten was life if they had gone back and charged him with murder in 2003 when Burkett died.
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More than likely they figured that he would be in his 70's by the time he was ready for parole and the cost to go to trial and get life would have been significant.
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With the economy like it is they won't be pressing the issue as it costs $3,000 a month to keep someone in prison.
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Many times justice is allocated depending on finances.
 @RalphCramden I know that the reason so many 'elderly' die is exactly from what you said when it comes to "Grandma fell and broke her hip and died 3 weeks later"....they develop pneumonia from not moving around.  I was just curious since the story didn't indicate he was in prison for killing anyone.
 @Sundowner  @Jax09Â
It appears that he died from complications to the gun shot. If he died from cancer not related to the gun shot then it would have been cancer listed on the death certificate. The same with emphysema from smoking.
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Where it gets sticky is getting something like pneumonia. It is a known fact that sedentary people are more likely to get pneumonia that those that are active. Being bed ridden or sedate for long periods can increase the chances of pneumonia. So if Burkett was bed ridden from the shooting and got pneumonia was the cause of death a gun shot? Tough call but I would say yes.
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I knew of this deputy and all his complications, from what I heard, were due to the gun shot.
 @RalphCramden  @Jax09 I knew that, but Is that what it said on the death certificate?  I "get" that he's a life-long criminal, but if the officer he shot died of cancer........just sayin'. Â
He looks pretty good for as old as he is, he must be getting taken care of good. Everyone should have another chance.
"Kessler does have a few friends in the right places. One of them is the very same judge who sentenced him after he was captured. The judge wrote a letter to the parole board, saying Kessler should be released and that he's reflected on what's done"
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Cut the Judge loose and ban him/her from input on parole hearings, keep the prisoner locked up.
"Kessler, 42 years old at the time ..." and then "Thirty years later ... Kessler ... now a much older man, pushing 70." ????? And the guard was a "rookie sergeant"? How does a "rookie" get to be a sergeant? Sounds like embellished tale telling is more important than simple facts. As to the story .... sounds like a routine parole hearing to me. Why is it news? Just filling up space, huh?
 @You're Kidding...Right Officer wasn't a rookie, he was just months from retirement....
 @You're Kidding...Right A "rookie" sergeant is simply a sergeant who has not been a sergeant very long!
NO.
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The current "sentencing guidelines / post-prison supervision" rules would have automatically released this guy long before now. But he's an old-school Parole case and can be held at the Parole Board's discretion. Hopefully the Board sees right through this violent, manipulative inmate, and will keep him boxed up as long as possible.Â