THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, February 13, 1997 TAG: 9702130367
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A7 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: BOSTON LENGTH: 57 lines
John C. Salvi III, the abortion clinic gunman who committed suicide in prison, suffered a psychotic disorder and was seen by a psychiatrist only once while behind bars, experts said in a report Wednesday.
Salvi also spoke several times about committing suicide, but state prison officials were never told, the report said.
``There were a few times when he appeared to accept the opportunity to interact with mental health professionals,'' the report said. ``Had such an interaction been provided to a greater extent, this could have affected his mental status in a positive way.''
However, the report by two psychiatrists and two psychologists from the University of Massachusetts pointed out that Salvi elaborately planned his suicide and may not have been talked out of it even with appropriate care.
Before his conviction, Salvi was found in his cell at the county jail with a noose around his neck, but authorities at the state prison, where he was sent after his conviction, were not told, the report said.
In prison, he was seen by a psychiatrist only once, and that was primarily because the psychiatrist ``was `curious' about this famous new inmate,'' the report said.
The panel recommended hiring more psychiatrists and providing better mental care to inmates. Public Safety Secretary Kathleen O'Toole, who accepted the recommendations, commissioned the report after Salvi's death in November.
Salvi asphyxiated himself by placing a bag over his head and a gag in his mouth as his hands were constricted by shoelaces. Papers diagramming his suicide were found in his cell, the panel said.
Salvi was convicted of killing two receptionists and wounding several others at two women's health clinics on Dec. 30, 1994, in neighboring Brookline.
Salvi was captured the day after the Brookline shootings after he fired at the building that houses the Hillcrest Clinic in Norfolk. The charge of shooting into an occupied building was set aside by prosecutors, however, so Salvi could be returned to Massachusetts to stand trial on more serious murder and assault charges there.
Last month, a judge expunged the two murder convictions from Salvi's record because his appeal had not been completed when he died.
His parents, John and Anne Marie Salvi, argued at trial that their son was mentally incompetent and should have been committed to a state mental institution. After his death, they complained he had not received adequate mental health attention.
``He was severely mentally ill, and it was obvious,'' Anne Marie Salvi said in a telephone interview from the couple's home in Naples, Fla. ``Trying to communicate with young John was like trying to communicate with somebody with Alzheimer's.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo
John Salvi III was seen only once in prison, by a psychiatrist ``
`curious' about this famous new inmate.''