Poor guy…confined to a prison cell…fearing for his life…

Josef Fritzl going stir crazy in cell

Josef Fritzl, who locked his daughter in a cellar dungeon for 24 years, has asked permission to leave his prison cell after admitting he can no longer stand being cooped up.

Fritzl, 73, kept daughter Elisabeth locked in a windowless cellar in Amstetten, Austria, and fathered her seven children before being caught by police. Three of the children had never seen daylight before being released.

Now, after just two months of incarceration and despite his fear of being attacked by fellow prisoners, he has demanded his right to 30 minutes exercise every day.

Fritzl has now twice had half-hour walks, protected from other inmates by a close guard of prison officers.

Prison spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Erich Huber-Guensthofer said: "Mr Fritzl is accommodated in a cell for two and recently he has made use of his right to go outside for half an hour per day.

"He usually sits there watching television all day, especially news programmes about him," said one prison source. "He’s terrified that someone will attack him or try to kill him."

What’s German for Schadenfreude?