I was committed to Cherry Hospital after my release from Prison in 1991. I did write a habeas corpus petition to the courts, US District Court, Judge James Fox, while I was incarcerated in 1994-95 for release.
In 1860, Elizabeth Packard, who differed with the theology of her clergyman husband, was forcibly placed in an Illinois state hospital. She remained there for 3 years. At that time, Illinois law stated that "married" women could be hospitalized at a husband's request without the evidence required in other cases. Mrs. Packard was able to obtain a release by an action of the hospital, but on her return home, she was locked up by her husband who planned for her admission to an asylum in her native Massachusetts. She eventually gained her freedom in 1863 through a habeas corpus hearing in a local court.
