An American is set to receive $975,000 (around 840,000 euros) in damages and interest after being wrongly imprisoned and involuntarily committed for over two years. As reported by AP News in a recent article, Joshua Spriestersbach was arrested by the police in 2017 while living on the streets in Honolulu, Hawaii. He was mistaken for another man, Thomas Castleberry.
The confusion stemmed from an incident in 2011 when the homeless man was awakened by the police while sleeping in a college. According to reports, he had refused to give his first name and only provided his grandfather’s last name, Castleberry. This incorrect information was added to his record with a photo and was never corrected.
In 2017, the 55-year-old man thought he was being arrested for sleeping on a sidewalk while waiting in line for a shelter in Honolulu. However, it was actually due to a warrant for Thomas Castleberry. Joshua Spriestersbach explained that he was not the wanted fugitive, but no one believed him. He was incarcerated for four months and then involuntarily committed to a psychiatric hospital for over two years.
The American was finally released in 2020 when the mistake was uncovered. “No one bothered to use the available information to verify that Joshua was telling the truth and not Thomas R. Castleberry,” a complaint reported by AP News states. “Instead, they concluded that Joshua was delusional and incompetent simply because he refused to admit he was Thomas R. Castleberry,” it also reads.
