Gabriel London’s absorbing new documentary tells the hard-to-believe astonishing story of the man who has been dubbed ‘the Houdini of Florida’ and who has been incarcerated for almost 40 years for simply stealing his father’s tool box and then defying the Prison Authorities ever since.Mark DeFriest was born on August 18, 1960. A tough kid that saw more than his share of Reform Schools, he did however posses an extraordinary talent for fixing anything remotely mechanical. He was just 17 years old when his father died, and after falling out with his step-mother DeFriest collected the tools that he had been left in the Will. However this had not yet been probated so she called the Police and had him charged with theft. This shockingly got him a 4 year jail sentence and the start of a lifetime behind bars.
A month later he made the first of his many successful escapes only to be re-captured after being caught hot-wiring a friend’s car. This was just the beginning of a cat and mouse game he played with the Prison Authorities who, exasperated by his many breakouts, took their rage out on DeFriest by continually getting his sentence extended and making his life as unbearable as possible. Among the stunts he pulled was putting LSD in a staff coffee pot so that he could make a run for it when the Officers were high. He also fashioned realistic looking zip-guns from arts and craft materials, but as he says looking back on all these incidents ‘nobody in here has got a sense of humor’.
Far from it and they ensured that DeFriest has spent 27 of his 34 years in jail in solitary confinement. He has also been subjected to untold brutality by countless Guards who he claims, tortured him on numerous occasions using mace and fire hoses etc. He was also sexually abused and gang raped by other inmates.In the early 1980’s after escaping three times in lees than two years he was sent to the Florida State Hospital for treatment. Five out of the six court appointed psychiatrists confirmed that DeFriest was incompetent to be charged with a Felony – citing symptoms of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder – but a single doctor, the director of the Forensic Unit, Dr. Berland, testified that DeFriest was faking mental illness. This cleared the way for him to plead guilty and receive a Life Sentence even though he never physically harmed another human being.
Now decades later Dr Berland is invited back to examine DeFriest by his lawyer who has serious concerns about his mental condition. Berland not only accepts that his early diagnosis was completely wrong but he is prepared to provide proof and testify before the Parole Board as he believes DeFriest is genuinely psychotic and needs treatment.
The other person that features prominently in this tale is DeFriest’s second wife Bonnie. Thirty years his senior, they met through a prison penpal scheme in 1994 and she became his champion and the motiving force to try to restore his sanity and re-gain his freedom. The later part of the movie focuses on her and DeFriest’s lawyer as they prepare for two crucial meetings with Florida’s Parole Board.
London’s film makes no attempt to be partisan about what is obviously a grave injustice and expects us to completely accept that the colorful DeFriest is always telling the truth. There is no attempt to get the Prison Authorities take on any of DeFriest’s escapades or on his imprisonment which ensures our sympathies are not tested at all. When his last appearance before the Parole Board (made up of political appointees) ends up as a disastrous farce, any doubts we have about the unfairness of this case quickly dissipate.
DeFriest is only one of 200,000 mentally ill people in the US who are in jail. In his case, having exhausted nearly every avenue open to him, his only hope now is a clemency petition that his elderly wife and his lawyer are pursuing on his behalf. If it has any chance of succeeding will eventually be up to Governor Rick Scott, which sadly cannot give anyone much hope that justice will ever be done.
Labels: 2014, biography, documentary
