Public not told of escape from state mental hospital

By Johnny Brannon
Advertiser Staff Writer

A 64-year-old man accused of killing a man more than 30 years ago escaped from the state mental hospital Friday and was not captured until a hospital worker recognized him and flagged down a police officer more than 28 hours later.

Authorities said they did not notify the public because they did not think Stanley Morris Santos was dangerous.

"At the time of the elopement, the individual was not considered to pose a risk," state Health Department spokeswoman Janice Okubo said.

Okubo could not say how Santos had escaped, whether he had used force or how long he had been gone before the hospital called police.

"Whenever someone is missing, we do a thorough search of the grounds, and then we notify police," she said. "Our policy is to do that within an hour."

Hospital officials will tell police if doctors consider a patient dangerous, and police can then decide whether to notify the public, Okubo said.

Santos, 64, was committed to Hawai'i State Hospital in 1970 after he was charged with the first-degree murder of a man found severely beaten and strangled.

He was taken into custody on Hotel Street at 10 p.m. Saturday after a hospital worker recognized him and alerted a police officer, said Detective Alan Matsumura.

He said Santos had been missing from the hospital in Kane'ohe since at least 6 p.m. Friday, when the hospital notified police. Santos told officers he had taken the bus to Chinatown because he was dissatisfied with the facility's rules, Matsumura said. Matsumura said Santos did not resist arrest.

The hospital has experienced a rash of escapes in recent months, sometimes by patients with histories of serious violence. Eight patients have escaped this year, 16 last year.

"I don't want to whip the community into some kind of hysteria, but I am very concerned," said Rep. Charles Djou, R-47th (Kahalu'u, Kane'ohe), who represents the area surrounding the hospital. "This is just unacceptable, and certainly I think the community should be told when these problems occur."

Okubo said it was important to recognize that the hospital is not a prison, and that patients are sent there for treatment, not punishment.

But some hospital staffers say problems worsened after the hospital shut down its most secure wing several months ago and mixed difficult patients with more docile ones. Hospital officials said the closure did not create major problems, but stronger doors and window coverings have since been installed in remaining wards to improve security.

Another patient with a violent history, James Morgan Huffman, broke out of the hospital through a window last month and fooled staffers by placing pillows under his blanket to make them think he was still there.

Police took him into custody the next day when he sought medical treatment for serious injuries he suffered after jumping off a freeway overpass. Huffman had escaped from the hospital once before but was not considered a flight risk when he left the second time, health officials said.

Santos had also escaped from the hospital in 1973. He remained at large for six years, some of the time on the Mainland. He was caught in 1979 after he announced during a flight from San Francisco to Honolulu that friends had placed a bomb on board the plane. The pilot flew low over the Pacific to increase the chances of survival in case of an explosion, but no bomb was found when the aircraft landed.

Santos has a criminal history that dates back to the time he was 8. He was 17 and on parole from the Koolau Boys Home in 1954 when police arrested him for a string of store burglaries in Hilo. He also admitted burglarizing 32 Honolulu stores and homes and stealing 28 cars, police said at the time, and a judge sentenced him to 165 years in prison for the Hilo charges.

Santos was paroled again, then arrested in 1970 for the killing of Danny Matias, 23, whose body was found in the stairwell of a Kalihi apartment building. Santos, then 32, was also charged with illegal gun possession.

He was committed to the hospital after a panel of three psychiatrists determined that he was insane and unfit to stand trial.