OR Department of Corrections launches immediate sentencing reviews after Supreme Court clarification
Published 10:55 am Saturday, November 15, 2025
Jackson County D.A. Patrick Green has filed multiple contempt of court actions over the early release of prisoners
The Oregon Department of Corrections is reevaluating sentencing calculations for state prisoners that led to early releases after receiving new guidance from the Oregon Supreme Court, officials said late Friday.
Jackson County District Attorney Patrick Green in early October filed multiple contempt of court actions against DOC after it was learned that some prisoners sentenced from the county had been released years early, with the D.A. calling it “unjust and absurd.” In some cases, sentences were backdated to mere weeks after their sentencing, according to reporting by the Rogue Valley Times.
A review of Oregon’s more than 10,000 inmates resulted in reduced sentences for nearly 400 prisoners with an undetermined number already released and others assigned earlier-than-anticipated release dates.
The reported errors were due to Department of Corrections officials recalculating prison sentences following an Oregon Supreme Court decision in the case of Torres-Lopez v. Fahrion in July 2025, which sought to clarify application of pre-sentence incarceration credit in cases involving concurrent sentences.
Green, who sounded the alarm to state officials in early October, said the DOC had double, triple or quadruple counted “time-served” credit across consecutive counts, contrary to the court’s intent of applying the credit in cases involving concurrent sentences.
Green’s office was alerted by victims of crimes who learned, without being notified by court officials, that their perpetrator had been freed from prison earlier than expected. Green told the Times his office had identified a list of cases that he would be filing for court review.
One of the more egregious cases involved near-release of convicted Gold Hill rapist William Thompson, found guilty of multiple counts of rape and sodomy of a 14-year-old in 2008, the Times previously reported. Following an initial 72-year sentence, a lengthy appeal and later resentencing, Thompson was ordered in November 2023 to serve 47-and-a-half years in prison with an earliest anticipated release of 2044.
Just prior to the planned release of Thompson last month, DOC officials alerted Jackson County Senior Deputy District Attorney Lucy Durst that she had mere hours to get an amended judgment to clarify that the court had not intended, Green said, to release Thompson 19 years early.
[See rv-times.com for continuing local coverage.]
In the late Friday news release, Oregon Department of Corrections Director Michael Reese said, “We are aware of the continued impact this Supreme Court decision has on victims, survivors of crime, and their families. The Department of Corrections is firmly committed to public safety, accountability, and transparency as we implement this mandate from the Oregon Supreme Court.”
The Supreme Court guidance came Friday in what DOC officials called “further clarification concerning credit for time served if specified by the judicial system that the Oregon Department of Corrections (DOC) must consider during sentence calculation that began following the July 10, 2025, Torres-Lopez v. Fahrion decision.
“To protect communities, DOC’s role in sentence calculation is to take the judgments from the courts and ensure adults in custody (AICs) serve their full sentences,” the release said.
“Today’s clarification will require another round of reviews of court judgments by DOC. It is unclear how many sentences will be affected at this time. To ensure clarity and support for everyone impacted, DOC has established multiple ways for affected parties to ask questions about changes to sentences.”
The DOC news release noted that crime victims who want to receive updates about an offender’s recalculated release date should subscribe to VISOR (Victim Information System in Oregon) if they haven’t already.
Visit https://visor.oregon.
“This system is the only way DOC can send updates to victims,” the release said.
A website with examples of the sentences is available at: DOC Sentence Recalculation
This is a developing story and will be updated as warranted.
