Man Locked Up 40 Years In D.C. Mental Hospital For $20 Necklace Theft Breaks Silence

Washington Times
Nov. 13, 2014

The words come haltingly, the sentences trailing off into barely comprehensible asides: a story about an abusive father who drank himself to death, proud talk of his songwriting abilities and childhood memories of an older brother he still adores.

But Franklin Frye, 68, after all these years, speaks clearly about one thing: the arrest.

“They locked me up for no reason,” he said. “They never found the necklace on me I don’t know if they ever found it.”

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.

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