Man Released After 14 Years in Prison for Not Paying Alimony

H. Beatty Chadwick, 73, was reportedly released from prison last weekend after serving 14 years on a contempt-of-court charge for not paying alimony.

Chadwick's attorney, Michael J. Malloy, told the Philadelphia Inquirer that his client was given his freedom after a Delaware County Common Pleas judge approved the inmates petition to be released.

In 1995, Chadwick was sent to prison after reportedly failing to deposit $2.5 million in a court-controlled account. The money was to be used as alimony payments for the defendant's ex-wife Barbara Applegate.

At the time, Chadwick said he didn't have the money because of bad overseas investments. However, the judge presiding over the case reportedly believed Chadwick hid the money after the couple divorced from 15 years of marriage.

However, after a significant amount of time in prison, it was argued that Chadwick's incarceration stopped being a coercive move and turned into a punitive action, the Pittsburgh Post Gazette reports.

"I really missed being free and being able to have interactions with other people," Chadwick told the Gazette. "Jail is really a very artificial society."