Shuffle through the past 14 years of jail mugshots taken of 32-year-old Matthew Medlin, and it's clear he's struggled with drug use and homelessness.

Mugshots of the fresh-faced 18-year-old starkly contrast with the Medlin of more recent years -- tattoos gracing his eyebrows and cheek. Wounds mar his face, either bandaged or not.

Medlin is almost unrecognizable from his former self -- a transformation so eye-opening that his jail photos have been featured in publications ranging from The Daily News in New York City to The Daily Mail in the United Kingdom.

The last mugshot taken of him may have marked a new low for Medlin: His eyelids droop, a large burn cuts across his right cheek and his hair flares out wildly. Earlier on that Jan. 30 day, Medlin had held Portland police at bay for five hours as he holed himself up in a railcar in Northwest Portland's industrial district, armed himself with shards of metal and, at one point, even injected himself with meth.

On Monday, a Multnomah County Circuit judge could have sent Medlin to prison for 2 1/2 years for that latest spree. But instead, Judge Stephen Bushong approved a deal hammered out between the defense and the prosecution, in an effort to get at the root of Medlin's problems.

Bushong sentenced Medlin to 60 days in jail, three years of probation and 120 days in a relatively new intensive probation program that aims to connect him with any needed drug and mental-health treatment and find him a stable place to live. He also could be considered for participation in Mental Health Court, in which he'd have to regularly check in with a judge and go to mental health counseling.

Medlin has been booked into Portland-area jails 28 times, convicted in 10 separate cases and served four stints in prison. Although one of his convictions is for first-degree attempted sexual abuse when he was 19, the details of that crime weren't accessible. Most of Medlin's convictions have been for property crimes, such as theft and burglary.

In 2014, Medlin made headlines for scaling a prison fence at Columbia River Correctional Institution before getting caught at a North Portland Jack in the Box restaurant hours later.

Defense attorney Jon Martz told the judge that Medlin might have schizophrenia. Court records show Medlin had been offered drug treatment before, but Martz said Medlin was homeless and with all the chaos that comes with that, drug treatment didn't take.

Prosecutor Mike Botthof said his office took Medlin's long and mostly property-crime-related history into consideration in agreeing to allow Medlin to avoid prison and get intensive treatment.

During Medlin's latest encounter with the criminal justice system, Medlin was caught inexplicably letting the air out of the compression brake system for railcars on Union Pacific tracks in the 3500 block of Northwest Yeon Avenue. By the time police arrived, Medlin had jumped into a railcar of scrap metal -- his defense attorney later said -- "looking for signs of life."

For hours, Portland police officer Bradley Nutting tried to talk Medlin out of the railcar -- offering him food, water and a blanket.

"I have to give the cops a lot of credit," said Martz, the defense attorney. "They could have gone in there with Tasers blazing, but they didn't. ...They were very patient."

Officers eventually tried to use police K9s and pepper spray to subdue Medlin, but neither worked. After about five hours, police finally resorted to Tasering Medlin so they could take him into custody.

Last month, Medlin pleaded guilty to felony first-degree criminal mischief. On Monday, he declined to make any statements to the judge. But his defense attorney said he's noticed a "huge change" while Medlin's been sober and in jail.

"I think he's struggled his adult life with mental illness, substance abuse and homelessness. And now we got a chance to address all three of those issues in one shot. If we can do this I think we're all going to be better off."

-- Aimee Green

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