In the late evening hours of July 25, 1982, a brazen escape attempt unfolded at the Rocky Butte Jail in Portland, Oregon, forever altering the life of Multnomah County Sheriff's Deputy Irving Lawrence Burkett, a man then in his early sixties. What began as a seemingly ordinary shift for the 14-year veteran of the Sheriff's Office would end in a violent confrontation that set in motion a chain of events culminating in his death over two decades later.
The incident was initiated by six
inmates who had managed to smuggle a. 22 caliber pistol into the facility. Taking five corrections deputies and five civilian staff members hostage, the inmates navigated through eleven locked doors and gates in a meticulously planned 45-minute ordeal. Deputy Burkett was stationed in the first-floor control center when the escaping inmates reached his post. In a heroic act, he attempted to sound the alarm and alert other deputies to the jailbreak. Before he could succeed, one of the inmates, identified as Stephen Kessler, shot him in the head.
The six inmates successfully escaped that night, though their freedom was short-lived. Over the subsequent weeks, five of the escapees were apprehended. Kessler, the man who shot Deputy Burkett, was captured a month later on August 26, 1982, in Independence, Missouri. In December of that year, Kessler pleaded guilty to a litany of charges including attempted murder and kidnapping, receiving a sentence of 40 to 100 years in prison. The other five inmates also received prison sentences for their roles in the escape, ranging from 10 to 50 years. Kessler was denied parole in 2013 and ultimately died in prison in 2019.
For Deputy Burkett, the single gunshot wound inflicted that night resulted in devastating and permanent injuries. The bullet remained lodged near his brain stem, leaving him blind and unable to walk unassisted. For years, he endured the severe disabilities caused by the shooting. On August 21, 2003, at the age of 83, Irving Lawrence Burkett succumbed to complications from the gunshot wound he had sustained twenty-one years earlier. His death was a direct result of the events that transpired during the violent jailbreak at Rocky Butte.
