Franklin Frye, 68, has been in D.C.'s St. Elizabeth's psychiatric hospital since being charged with stealing a $20 necklace in 1970.
Photo by Jim McElhatton/The Washington Times
The problem lies with psychiatry and their priests.
[From article]
It didn’t matter. Four decades ago, police charged him with stealing a $20 necklace, but Mr. Frye was found not competent to stand trial. If he’d been found guilty, he would’ve faced a fine or perhaps a short jail sentence. Instead, he’s spent most of his life inside the District’s psychiatric hospital, St. Elizabeth’s, feeling frustrated with, and forgotten by, the very system charged with looking after his welfare.
It’s a case that raises tricky questions about fairness within the criminal justice system and life inside St. Elizabeth’s. Indeed, for years the court system simply lost track of him.
[. . .]
Through the D.C. public defender’s office, Mr. Frye sought unconditional release in 2008, but his motion was filed on the docket of a dead judge, where it remained until earlier this year — with no apology or explanation from court officials.
[. . .]
But in 1983, the Supreme Court, in the case Jones v. U.S., ruled in a 5-4 decision that there was “no necessary correlation” between the length of a “hypothetical” criminal sentence and how long it takes to recover from insanity.
[. . .]
William Frye said he only recently learned that his brother attends Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, even though he said Franklin has never had a drinking problem.
http://www.washingtontimes.
Man locked up 40 years in D.C. mental hospital for $20 necklace theft breaks silence
Case raises questions about fairness within criminal justice system
By Jim McElhatton
The Washington Times
Tuesday, November 11, 2014
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