Austrian Incest Father Going 'Stir Crazy' in Jail
Children imprisoned by "monster of Austria" begin forays into the world.
July 11, 2008— -- The Austrian man who imprisoned his own daughter for 24 years in a windowless dungeon has become so tired of being cooped up in his jail cell that he is venturing out for 30 minutes each day — protected from other inmates by prison guards.
Josef Fritzl, 73, has spent two-and-a-half months in an Austrian jail cell since his arrest last April. He's awaiting trial, but a trial date has not been set yet.
Fritzl, fearing an attack by other prisoners, has spent most of that time watching television in the cell he shares with a man accused of a shooting incident.
But as the Daily Telegraph newspaper of London reported, Fritzl is becoming "stir crazy." The man known as the monster of Austria has begun demanding in recent weeks his 30-minute daily exercise walk outside of his cell.
He takes those walks while protected from other inmates by a guard of prison officers.
"That's a basic right guaranteed to any prisoner by Austrian law," Dr. Gerhard Sedlacek, the prosecution spokesman told ABC News.
Fritzl admitted to Austrian law enforcement authorities in April that he forced his daughter Elisabeth, now 42, to live in a small, dark cellar dungeon in Amstetten, Austria, where he fathered her seven children before he was caught by police. One infant had died shortly after it was born.
While Fritzl adjusts to prison life, his children are adjusting to the sunlight they never saw and the freedom that they never knew.
And Elisabeth has been questioned by prosecutors for the first time since her release from the dungeon beneath her family home.
Sedlacek said Elisabeth's interview session was videotaped and transmitted to another room, where Fritzl's defense lawyer was watching. Fritzl declined to be present for the interrogation.
The interview was conducted by videolink because Elisabeth only began to talk about her ordeal after police assured her she would never have to see her father again. The videotaped testimony will allow her to avoid having to repeat her story in court, officials said.
