A man who killed and ate a man has been released back into public life after ten years.

Tyree Smith, from Bridgeport, Connecticut, killed a homeless man and then ate his brain and eyeballs according to officials.

The horrific case made headline news, with Smith found not guilty of murder by reason of insanity after a July 2013 trial.

In lieu of a stint behind bars, Smith was ordered committed to a state psychiatric hospital for 60 years.

But now, ten years after the grim incident, the state Psychiatric Security Review Board said Smith was ready to be transitioned back into the community.

Smith has been released from the facility, Connecticut’s most secure, as of writing.

He will be living in a Waterbury group home, and is not allowed to associate with anyone involved in criminal activity.

The board stated in its report: “Tyree Smith is an individual with a psychiatric illness requiring care, custody and treatment.

“Since his last hearing Tyree Smith has continued to demonstrate clinical stability.

“Mr. Smith is medication compliant, actively engaged in all recommended forms of treatment, and has been symptom-free for many years.”

During the trial, Smith’s cousin Nicole Rabb claimed he arrived at her Connecticut home in December 2011, talking about Greek gods and ruminating about needing to go out and get blood.

When she saw him the next evening she noticed what appeared to be specks of blood on his pants and that he was carrying chopsticks and a bloody ax.

Smith then allegedly told Rabb he killed a man and ate his brains in the Lakeview Cemetery while drinking sake, and grimly warned he intended to eat more people.

A month later, police found Angel Gonzalez’s mutilated body in the vacant apartment on Brooks Street in Bridgeport where Smith had lived as a child.

Police later recovered the bloody ax and an empty bottle of sake in a stream bed near the Boston Avenue cemetery.

The defense’s case rested on the testimony of Yale University psychiatrist Dr. Reena Kapoor, who testified that Smith had kept his lust for human flesh after his arrest, even offering to eat her.

Kapoor claimed Smith suffered from psychotic incidents since childhood and heard voices that told him to kill people.

She then said the voices ordered Smith to eat the victim’s brain so they would get a better understanding of human behavior and the eyes so that they could see into the “spirit realm.”

Kapoor added that Smith went to Subway after eating the man’s body parts.

The report on Smith’s release said: “He denied experiencing cravings but stated that if they were to arise, he would reach out to his hospital and community supports and providers.”

  • BluJay320@lemmy.blahaj.zone
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    228
    arrow-down
    23
    ·
    9 months ago

    Some of y’all really need to figure out the difference between punishment and rehabilitation…

    And which one actually works.

    Stop stroking your hate boners and start advocating for real solutions. You don’t fix pain with more pain. All that does is exacerbate the cycle.

    • squirrelwithnut@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      13
      arrow-down
      3
      ·
      9 months ago

      The problem is our justice system only focuses on the punishment part. Rehabilitation is either non-existent for most inmates or completely inadequate. The likelihood of this man being mentally stable enough to be safely reintegrated into public life is extremely small.

      • Jakeroxs@sh.itjust.works
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        14
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        9 months ago

        He didn’t go to prison though, he went to a pysch ward, seems like exactly the kind of thing you’d be advocating for.

      • BluJay320@lemmy.blahaj.zone
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        8
        ·
        9 months ago

        So the fault lies with the inadequacy of the justice and healthcare system. But my point still stands - simply locking someone away does nothing to actually help.

      • braxy29@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        4
        ·
        9 months ago

        maybe not… a high profile case like this may well have attracted the attention of more competent psychiatrists, or motivated his care team/state to seek it out. it also seems possible to me that his psychosis was very treatable with the right meds, but that he had not been able to access that care previously.

        so yeah. mental health care is health care, and in this case it’s important not only to the well-being of Mr. Smith but to his community as well. i agree with you that, for the american “justice” system, most cases are treated as it punishment is the correct response.

    • CaptFeather@lemm.ee
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      4
      ·
      edit-2
      9 months ago

      The US justice system unfortunately runs on emotion and punishment rather than rehabilitation, thanks in no small part to the whole privatized prison system. The average American would rather see someone suffer than get the help they need. This is a particularly strong mindset ironically among the conservative religious, but there are plenty of liberals who think that way too. This country needs reform on so many systems…

      • BluJay320@lemmy.blahaj.zone
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        15
        ·
        9 months ago

        Serious mental health treatment, rehabilitation, and medication. Extensive monitoring by mental health professionals, routine check-ins… Basically what they’ve done.

        I’m not saying just release the dude, wash their hands of him, and say “good luck”…

    • ParsnipWitch@feddit.de
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      1
      arrow-down
      4
      ·
      edit-2
      9 months ago

      What are “real” solutions, in your opinion? What do you feel should be done for the victims and their loved ones and family?

      • BluJay320@lemmy.blahaj.zone
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        2
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        9 months ago

        Nothing can really be done for them. Locking him up won’t do anything for them, either. One could argue for some form of restitution, but then you’d have to ask if they even want anything from the guy.

        The real solutions are adequate mental healthcare and access to medication, as well as routine monitoring and check-ins. All following an extensive inpatient treatment and rehabilitation program… So, basically what they’ve done here. Fighting pain with more pain doesn’t do anyone good. It’s entirely reactionary. Locking someone up for life does not help anyone.

        Helping the person get the treatment they so desperately need does.

        • ParsnipWitch@feddit.de
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          2
          arrow-down
          1
          ·
          9 months ago

          I am not talking abou the perpetrators, though. I wanted to know what should be done to care for the victims of violent crimes.

          • BluJay320@lemmy.blahaj.zone
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            1
            arrow-down
            1
            ·
            9 months ago

            Like I said - restitution.

            Locking someone up doesn’t do anything for the victims or their families…

            Also, just take a look at wrongful conviction rates - and that’s just the confirmed ones… How many do we miss?

            Are we really willing to let so many innocent people be locked away or even killed? Debts can be repaid for a wrongful conviction, but a prison sentence cannot, and a death sentence- well, duh.

            Again, like I’ve said - and I feel like a broken record with this - prison does not help anyone. If anything, it makes things worse. I mean, you’re really gonna try to tell me that locking a bunch of convicts together for years or decades at a time and then just dropping them back into society once they’re done is a good idea??? No.

            Help. Support. Therapy. Proper monitoring and, if necessary, medication. THAT helps. Don’t look at the “what”, look at the “why”.

            We need to STOP the cycle of institutionalization, and START reforming people into productive members of society.

            Also, it’s way fuckin cheaper on the taxpayers, if that’s what you care about

            • ParsnipWitch@feddit.de
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              1
              ·
              edit-2
              9 months ago

              I only care for the victims and I still didn’t get an answer. “Restitution”, what does that entail in detail? What’s your concrete plan of action to help the victims of violent crimes? How do you stop them from getting revenge? How do you handle them if they do take revenge? What happens with criminals who are repeat offenders? What about those were people know they plan an attack on someone?

              People like you pretend to care for people but I never get an answer to these questions. Victims are blissfully ignored in your crusade to help and protect violent criminals. It’s just an interesting observation you can make all the time.

              • BluJay320@lemmy.blahaj.zone
                link
                fedilink
                English
                arrow-up
                1
                arrow-down
                1
                ·
                edit-2
                9 months ago

                estitution (noun):

                1. the restoration of something lost or stolen to its proper owner.

                2. recompense for injury or loss.

                3. the restoration of something to its original state.

                Didn’t think I had to spell it out for you…

                Obviously in this circumstance it would be definition number 2.

                • ParsnipWitch@feddit.de
                  link
                  fedilink
                  arrow-up
                  2
                  ·
                  9 months ago

                  What kind of recommendation do you suggest if someone eats your husbands brain for example, or rapes you? What if someone wants, as decompensation, that the other person suffers as much as they did? What if they want a sum of money the person can not pay? What if they want the person to go to prison for life?

    • Earthwormjim91@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      34
      arrow-down
      38
      ·
      9 months ago

      He ended someone’s life. That alone should remove him from society forever.

      Now his entire release hinges on him being compliant with his meds to not end someone else’s life.

    • GreenMario@lemm.ee
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      15
      arrow-down
      27
      ·
      9 months ago

      Naw this dude is damaged goods. What happens when they cut his meds or if he stops taking it? Other peoples brains gonna be looking very tasty in that group home.

      No, this a death penalty thing and that’s a mercy. You kill a guy and eat his brains there’s no coming back, just kill the bastard cheaply and use the resources to rehabilitate someone that can readjust like a drug user.

      Planets fucking full anyways to keep a cannibal alive tbh. Make room for good people.

        • GreenMario@lemm.ee
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          4
          arrow-down
          2
          ·
          9 months ago

          Lol you ain’t wrong. Maybe we can air drop a bunch into a gated community somewhere 🤔

          • Walk_blesseD@lemmy.blahaj.zone
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            1
            ·
            9 months ago

            A problem easily avoided by using more space efficient modes of transportation, and also not particularly relevant to my objection that overpopulation is a Malthusian myth.

            • GreenMario@lemm.ee
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              1
              ·
              9 months ago

              Which will never happen because you’d have to rip up cities and replan them.

              But whatever I’m sure your gonna say it’s a “matter of resource distribution” not a space problem but I’ll just say this, we will never solve the distro problem because of greed.

              Plus every new person born is gonna generate a shit ton of carbon. They’re gonna need a place to live. That’s space that used to be an ecosystem.

              So idk maybe you want the planet to be turned into Courascant (one big planet sized city). Sure there’s space for trillions of humans if we stack em up high! Good luck feeding them.

        • GreenMario@lemm.ee
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          1
          arrow-down
          1
          ·
          9 months ago

          That’s kinda how we dealt with shit for millenia. One thing about humans is we are very good at making more.

          Too bad the guy who got his brain ate can’t be rehabilitated.

          • BluJay320@lemmy.blahaj.zone
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            1
            ·
            9 months ago

            One thing about humans is we are very good at making more.

            By that logic, let the man keep eating brains. Let the man eat YOUR brain. You’re clearly not using it, and we can always just make another person to replace you, right?

            • GreenMario@lemm.ee
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              1
              arrow-down
              1
              ·
              9 months ago

              Fine! But I get to try to kill him first. If he can beat me he can have my stupid fucking brain. Being alive sucks anyways. You’re doing me a favor. One less wage slave for the corporations OH NO!!!