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Comment by msbarnett | Hacker News Reader

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msbarnett·

> He was a free man until the end.

He literally died in jail.

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He lived his life the way he wanted and he even decided how to die.

Jail is detention before trial, not imprisonment in a penitentiary.

Isn’t the end result the same: you can’t go anywhere? I wouldn’t call that free.

I wouldn't describe being held in custody pending extradition as "being free". YMMV.

Yes and no. It's not like I'd expect him to carry a cyanide pill and just as he's about to be arrested swallows it to be technically correct.

I think this qualifies "dying free" in spirit since his death means objection to remaining in custody.

Just to be clear: We're saying it's admirable to kill yourself rather than face the consequences of your illegal behavior? That's what we're respecting in this thread?

The man was believed to have committed a litany of offenses including attacking other humans but "he was so respectable because he never let them convict him"?

"Bad rich guy kills himself in pathetic attempt to avoid justice" would be my preferred headline personally.

It is still being held captive against ones will.

Either way it’s questionable if he was “free”.

its interesting to read reflections of people locked up. very often they talk of how we are all in our own forms of jail. freedom is a state of mind.

Hold on. I talk like this and I'm a free man with a good job, good friends, and a good life. Sure, it becomes even more apparent when you are in a cage. But it's true, everyone really is in a cage of their own making. Even worse, being in a cage of someone else's making.

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