Outrage DuJour

A WOMAN was locked up and “lost” for 70 years after being wrongly accused of stealing 13p.

Jean Gambell, 85, was “certified” indefinitely in 1937 over claims she had taken the cash while cleaning at a doctor’s surgery.

The money was found — but Jean still spent 70 years in a maze of care institutions.

She was “found” when brothers Alan, 66, and David, 63 — who thought she was dead — read a letter sent by a care home to their mother, who died 25 years ago.

David said: “I was about to throw it in the bin when I saw a name in the corner — Jean Gambell. I rang and they said our sister was there.”

Unbelievable.

UPDATE: A Close Second

Both cases...so sad, so sad....

Posted by Macker  on  09/29  at  08:18 AM

Back when the famous book “The Snake Pit” came out, several reporters got themselves committed to “see what it was really like on the inside.” Almost without exception, they found it incredibly difficult to get released, even with their magazines and papers behind them.  I’m sure it’s less risky now, but still...scary stuff.

Posted by  on  09/29  at  10:23 AM

It’s just like socialism.

And another example of why the state shouldn’t manage anything without oversight.

Posted by James Hudnall  on  09/29  at  11:22 AM

Hud, you leave us with Plato’s question to Socrates, “who will guard the guardians or who will protect us against the protectors?” Plato thought they could guard themselves against themselves. He had an elaborate and unworkable system for doing this, including instilling a sense of responsibility and a distatse for power. We know those in power have neither, just look at any current political structure.

Posted by  on  09/29  at  12:47 PM

I think we need a fourth branch of government to do that, but it would have to be carefully considered because it could become just as corrupt and bloated as every other institution. The Supreme Court, for all its faults, is one of the best conceived of the branches because it tends to avoid corruption (generally), but they still find ways to mess with it by who appoints judges.

There needs to be an audit branch that just audits government agencies and recommends changes where problems lie. But like I said, there are so many ways this could go wrong so it would have to be carefully considered.

Posted by James Hudnall  on  09/29  at  01:25 PM
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