Spristers Bock's Arrest Was a New Nightmare

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Staff mingled details from thomas castlebery's arrest record with joshua sters box existing patient files, considering them both to be the same person. Patient denies any history of drug use. Mister castlebury states he lives in chinatown and sleeps close to the bridge next to king street and river street where substance use is present. It appears that he was paranoid and secretive about divulging any information. The charges on the bench warrant for thomas castleberry weren't non violent misdemeanors. They were felonies. This meant a 120 day cap on his time at h s h did not apply. Either the hospital would restore him to competence, or he would stay there indefinitely.

The more he insisted that his name was Joshua, the more delusional he came to be seen.

Journalist Robert Kolker tells us the remarkable story of Joshua Spriestersbach, a homeless man who wound up serving more than two years in a Honolulu jail for crimes committed by someone else.

It was a case of mistaken identity that developed into “a slow-motion game of hot potato between the police, the courts, the jails and the hospitals,” Mr. Kolker writes. He delves into how homelessness and mental illness shaped Mr. Spriestersbach’s adult life, two factors that led him into a situation in which he had little control — a bureaucratic wormhole that commandeered and consumed two and a half years of his life.

This story was written by Robert Kolker and recorded by Audm. To hear more audio stories from publications like The New York Times, download Audm for iPhone or Android.