McCollum v. Rochester Psychiatric Center

Darius McCollum is fifteen the first time he steals an NYC subway train. He drives it from 34th Street to the southern tip of Manhattan, on schedule, without incident. By his thirties, he has been arrested more than thirty times for the same thing. He has never crashed one. He has never hurt a passenger. He has autism spectrum disorder and a lifelong obsession with public transit that began in childhood. The 2022 federal suit asks whether his ongoing detention in a psychiatric facility is justified for a man whose offenses, taken together, amount to delivering bus and train service without permission.

The State argues that public safety requires custody when a defendant cannot or will not stop, regardless of motive. The Defense argues that decades of confinement for a non-violent man with a developmental disability is itself a harm, and that supportive housing or a competent guardian would protect everyone better than prison.

If the State's position holds, the bar for indefinite detention stays low for defendants whose disabilities sit outside the usual framework of intent and culpability. If the Defense prevails, judges may have to ask whether prison and psychiatric custody are the right tools for a man whose harm is measured in delayed commutes.