Hospital Cancels Plan to Let Hinckley Out for Easter

WASHINGTON —  St. Elizabeths Hospital today withdrew its request that John W. Hinckley Jr. be allowed an unescorted Easter visit with his parents amid revelations that he corresponded regularly with Florida serial killer Theodore Bundy, a spokesman in the U.S. attorney’s office said.

U.S. District Judge Barrington D. Parker accepted the hospital’s decision and said he would rule later on a request by the U.S. attorney’s office to seal documents and writings taken from Hinckley on Monday.

Hinckley has been hospitalized at the Washington facility since 1982, when he was found not guilty by reason of insanity of the March 30, 1981, assassination attempt on President Reagan and three other men.

St. Elizabeths said it was withdrawing the visit request “in order to further assess the clinical significance of writings and other materials belonging to Mr. Hinckley” that were found in his room.

Room Searched

Dr. Harold Thomas, a hospital spokesman, said the additional writings were found last night when Secret Service agents searched Hinckley’s room, as directed by the judge.

Thomas said hospital Superintendent William G. Prescott had overruled the clinical staff, deciding that for administrative reasons the Hinckley correspondence should be studied to determine its bearing on Hinckley’s mental condition.

Prosecutors said in court papers filed Tuesday that Hinckley did not tell his psychiatrist about his correspondence with Bundy until April 7, two weeks after the hospital had requested the Easter visit.

In a March 23 letter to the judge, hospital officials had recommended that Hinckley be allowed to make a 12-hour unescorted visit to his family over the Easter weekend, saying such a privilege would be “therapeutic and beneficial” to his treatment.

Northern Virginia

The hospital did not specify the terms of the proposed visit, saying only that the time and location would be set by St. Elizabeths. Hinckley’s parents have a residence in suburban northern Virginia, where Hinckley presumably sought to go during the furlough.

Earlier, Parker had postponed a hearing scheduled for today on the trip request to review Hinckley’s personal letters after government prosecutors told the judge of their concerns about Hinckley’s regular correspondence with Bundy.

The correspondence began after Hinckley saw a television movie about Bundy’s life last year.