Man Held in Mental Hospital for 32 Months Seeks Damages and Reforms
Joshua Spriestersbach is celebrating Thanksgiving 2021 by fighting back.
Honolulu, November 22, 2021. He was houseless and in line for a free meal when wrongly arrested for another man’s crimes in 2017. Joshua was held for 32 months in a mental hospital before his release on January 17, 2020. He was forcibly medicated during much of that time. The federal civil rights lawsuit filed today details how Joshua was ignored by the arresting officers, the jail guards, his public defenders and his doctors.
Already pending is a petition to correct the records so Joshua does not get arrested again on Thomas Castleberry’s open warrant for drug related offenses. The State has not yet responded to that case or acted to solve the problem.Hawai’i Civil Rights Project lawyer, Jennifer Brown, explains that “Had the officers, defense lawyers and medical staff simply compared Joshua’s photo to that of Castleberry, he would have been promptly released:”
Paul Hoffman, a human rights lawyer from Los Angeles, California, is co-counsel on the case. “I have filed cases against dictators, corporations and police authorities who abuse power all across the world. Joshua’s experience was nothing short of torture. He always provided accurate information but was simply invisible to these defendants who drugged him up and locked him away. That is horrifying.”
Al Gerhardstein of Cincinnati, Ohio, another veteran civil rights lawyer known for securing systemic reforms in prisons, jails, and law enforcement and also as lead counsel in the Supreme Court in Obergefell v Hodges which declared same sex marriage available across the country, noted that in this case, “Our goal includes structural reforms at the arresting agency, jail, public defender and hospital to ensure that clients are properly identified, their own words are given weight, and that errors once made are promptly corrected – this is particularly needed for houseless and mentally ill people like Joshua.”
“Joshua is outraged but also terrified. After 32 months of captivity the police and even his own former defense lawyers let that warrant stay in place exposing him to a new arrest as Thomas Castleberry. These people have no heart!”
Joshua seeks reforms at all levels to benefit mentally ill and houseless peoples that interact with the police. Joshua and his counsel are encouraged by and support the reforms regarding houselessness demanded by the ACLU of Hawai’i. Click here for more information.
Joshua’s Lead Attorneys:
Al Gerhardstein
Friedman, Gilbert + Gerhardstein
Cincinnati, Ohio
Jennifer L. Brown
Hawai‘i Civil Rights Project
Honolulu, HI
Paul Hoffman
Schonbrun, Seplow, Harris, Hoffman & Zeldes
Hermosa Beach, California
Press Coverage
Man Held in Hawaii for More Than 2 Years Over Mistaken Identity Sues the State
New York Times | November 23, 2021