Josef Fritzl's prison life - dementia, no 'sex drive' and cannibal inmate friend

16 January 2024 , 13:37

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Josef Fritzl imprisoned his daughter for 24 years and had seven children with her (Image: Getty Images)

World's most evil dad, Josef Fritzl, who locked his daughter away in a sex dungeon for more than two decades, could be moved from his high-security prison in Austria.

A new psychiatric report on Fritzl, who fathered seven children with his daughter Elisabeth, ruled that he is no longer a threat to the general public. The rapist disgusted the world when his shocking crimes came to light and he was jailed for life in 2009.

He kept Elisabeth as his sex slave, locked in the cellar of his house of horrors in Amstetten in Lower Austria State, from the age of 18 to 42. It wasn't until he took one of the children born to his daughter to hospital due to a life-threatening illness that his heinous crimes were discovered and she was able to escape.

For almost 15 years, he has been held behind bars in a high-security prison for mentally disturbed offenders, named Stein Prison. In a chilling twist though, those who have been given a life sentence in the country can apply for a conditional release after 15 years, making Fritzl eligible for parole.

Now 88 with dementia, Fritzl, who has changed his name since being convicted of rape, and incest and murdering one of his children through neglect, could be moved to a care home. Here, we take a look at his life behind bars now...

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The basement of Fritzl's family home, where he kept his children locked away (MDM)

After being sentenced, Fritzl originally worked as a prison librarian. According to local media, a few years later he began to show signs of dementia. From then on, he has been stuck doing menial tasks and "dirty chores" while languishing in the country's most secure jail. In 2019, it was reported that Fritzl's health was declining rapidly and that he lives apart from the rest of the prison population.

A fellow prisoner told local media: "Fritzl was and still is separated from everyone else. He has totally withdrawn himself and barely leaves his cell. He doesn’t want contact with others, and all together it looks as though he has resigned himself to dying."

The latest health report states he needs a walking frame after a number of falls inside. In a bid for his freedom this year, Fritzl's lawyer Astrid Wagner went as far as to claim she wouldn't be afraid to live with her client as he has 'no sex drive'.

She said he keeps himself isolated from others, with only one friend behind bars - Alfred U. The inmate is a cannibal murderer who was jailed for life in 2019 for dismembering a Hungarian prostitute and making goulash from her body parts.

Ms Wagner - who also represented Alfred U - told German newspaper Bild: "Fritzl is completely harmless today. I wouldn't be afraid to move into a shared apartment with him or live in a home with him. He has no sex drive anymore. He barricades himself in his solitary cell, watches a lot of TV, grows tomatoes, writes about his life as an electrical engineer. He sunbathes through the bars, does gymnastics, cares a lot about his figure and wants to live to be 100."

Josef Fritzl was jailed for life in 2009 (Getty Images)

The lawyer described how the cannibal makes Fritzl wiener schnitzel, a thin breaded cutlet of veal that is fried in a pan. She said Fritzl is not mentally fit enough to continue serving time in prison and should be moved to a nursing home.

"He lives in a dream world and says that his daughter will soon marry Boris Becker. And that he was a guest on the TV show 'Schlagerkarussell'. His brain is degrading, like an old computer whose programs are going crazy," she said.

Ms Wagner claims the depraved father 'regrets' what he did. She added: "He says he has nightmares and wakes up in the middle of the night. He's not a monster, he's still human. He committed terrible acts for years, became delirious, and says himself that he was overwhelmed by his sexual drive. But he regrets his actions - very sincerely in my opinion. Of course he often represses his great, great guilt, otherwise he wouldn't be able to continue living."

Fritzl's bid for freedom in June 2022 was dashed when Austrian High Court judges blocked his parole appeal. The court ruled that Fritzl must stay in the high-security prison after judges reversed plans to move him to a softer jail.

Austria's Higher Regional Court in Vienna reversed a decision taken in April 2022 that would have seen Fritzl being moved to a regular prison. Instead, the rapist would serve more time in the high-security prison for mentally ill criminals.

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Heidi Kastner, one of Austria's leading forensic psychiatric experts from Linz University, spent a year preparing her study of Fritzl and said that her country's most notorious prisoner no longer poses any danger, and that there is no longer any risk of him carrying out any criminal activity. She believes he could be transferred through the normal prison system at the Krems-Stein jail, as part of a first step towards being released.

Saffron Otter