(For Those Who Know His Story…) A Darius McCollum Update
Still, from the 2016 movie, “Off the Rails”
Darius McCollum, the sweet-natured and well-chronicled autistic New York City subway “thief,” was thought to be lost to us forever in 2018. Back then, a judge named Ruth Wallingford had surprised everyone by declaring that “Asperger Syndrome is a dangerous mental disorder,” and then, to the human world’s howls of horror, sent Darius to the kind of state psychiatric facility where the most violent offenders are stored, and almost never leave.
In short, he has been miraculously, and thankfully moved to a facility in Orangeburg, NY with pretty much the same lockdown/shitty life rules. But he now shares space with non-violent offenders.
During the 5+ years he spent in that hellhole in Rochester, he reports that he escaped attacks of any kind not only through his gregarious nature—he’s always been the nicest man you’ll ever meet— but thanks also to some sympathetic staff who watched out for him (our thanks to them). When I visited him in his new digs on October 13 of this year, his demeanor suggested that his unreal, natural positivity—arrested 30+ times, he has spent close to two-thirds of his life behind bars—had returned. He deserves to be free. But he’ll take “safe” for now as an improvement.
This isn’t a full article—just an update. Anyone interested in Darius’s story can consult a variety of internet stories, but I’d suggest:
• Adam Irving’s 2016 documentary about Darius, “Off the Rails*.“
• My piece from 2018 in Exceptional Parent magazine, “Autism-Schmautism: In the End, Darius McCollum Was Poor and Black.“
• Jeff Dietz’s original piece in Harper’s from 2004 that brought Darius to everyone’s attention, “The Boy Who Loved Transit.“
* The link is to the trailer on YouTube but I believe the full movie is available on Apple+.
Exceptional Magazine’s cover art for the article
Since he was 15, he may have disguised himself as an MTA employee and taken subway trains and city buses on joyrides…maybe over 1,000 times. But no incidents occurred whatsoever because he knew the job better than any actual MTA employees. Homeland Security even wisely visited him in prison to learn from him (i.e. how to stop others from impersonating a transit employee). Darius was honored to help them, but they did nothing to help him. Shame on them, the MTA, and Amtrak for never giving Darius a job.
What are his days like now at the new facility? Well, the lack of intellectual stimulation, I feel, has truly taken a toll on one of the most brilliant minds I’ve come across, though I felt that long before 2018, and he’s clearly adjusted. But he’s up at 6 am, takes the fewest meds in perhaps “the system’s” history, has very limited activities, watches a ton of TV with his fellow prisoners, and gets to walk or shoot hoops for an hour outside. He’s asleep by 8:30 or 9 pm.
Darius can now be mailed things like books (and letters). I’m happy to provide this to folks that remember him, or who want to write him if you contact me through my website (https://michaeljohncarley.com/contact-michael-john/). But please understand that I may discriminate. There are lots of “law and order” hardliners out there who believe that Darius deserves what he got. I have to make sure one of them isn’t posing as a supportive person in order to trick me into providing said info so that they can send Darius hateful content.
His hugs, as always, are deep and long.
Another still from “Off the Rails”
Yours, y’all,
mjc
