SALEM, Ore. — A former state penitentiary warden who oversaw the last two inmate executions says he wants Oregon’s death penalty repealed.
The Statesmen Journal reports that Frank Thompson has joined Oregonians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, an advocacy group determined to repeal Oregon’s capital punishment. Thompson became one of three new members on its advisory council.
Thompson tells the Statesmen Journal that the death penalty is “a failed public policy.”
He led the Oregon Department of Corrections during the lethal-injection executions of serial killer Douglas Wright in 1996 and Salem double killer Harry Moore in 1997 — the only inmates put to death since Oregon voters reinstated capital punishment in 1984.
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