The notorious New York City cannibal known as \u201cThe Butcher of Tompkins Square Park\u201d has been moved to a lower-security wing of the Wards Island loony bin\u00a0\u2014 putting him one step closer to freedom, The Post has learned.\u00a0<\/p>\n
East Village weed dealer Daniel Rakowitz became infamous for slaughtering his roommate<\/a> Monkia Beerle in 1989, chopping up and cooking her, and slurping up a revolting soup of brains and fingers. He then fed it to unsuspecting hobos in Tompkins Square Park. <\/p>\n With or without the help of \u201cThe View\u201d co-host Sunny Hostin<\/a> \u2014 who propelled the case back into the headlines this week after saying she was the lone holdout juror in the murder trial, a claim since debunked \u2014 Rakowitz, 65, was found not guilty of murder by reason of insanity in 1991.<\/p>\n Daniel Rakowitz reacts to hearing the jury\u2019s verdict in Civil Court at 111 Center St. in Manhattan, Tuesday, July 20, 2004. Robert Miller for NY Post<\/p>\n Instead of state prison, he was sent to Kirby Forensic Psychiatric Center on Ward\u2019s Island in the East River.<\/p>\n Since 2020, more than 200 criminal patients were moved<\/a> from the original maximum-security Kirby facility \u2014 a massive brick structure with barred windows \u2014 to one side of the nearby and more modern, state-run Manhattan Psychiatric Center.<\/p>\n Rakowitz, 65, was quietly moved to the civilian side about two years ago, and has less security around him as a result, the source said.<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019re letting people out prematurely every day,\u201d the source said. \u201cHe may be one of those that end up getting out.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNinety-nine percent of patients who are released\u201d get moved to lower security first, the source said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Hospital employees were alarmed when the state moved Rakowitz to the less secure wing, the source said.<\/p>\n Rakowitz, who remains at a psychiatric hospital on Wards Island, is pictured in Tompkins Square Park. Freelance<\/p>\n \u201cThey kept it a soft opening, like letting people know just before they moved him,\u201d the source said, noting that seeing Rakowitz walking around is nerve-racking. \u201cThey\u2019re trying to get us used to it.\u201d<\/p>\n Still, many staffers weren\u2019t \u201con board.\u201d <\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019re basically breaking down the barriers between criminal and civil,\u201d the source said. \u201cLetting them out is a very bad idea.\u201d<\/p>\n The hospital also has transitional housing on its campus<\/a>, which is usually the last stage before freedom.<\/p>\n Rakowitz, accused of stabbing his girlfriend to death on Aug. 19, 1989, then dismembering and disposing of her body, listens as a judge sends him to Bellevue Hospital for psychiatric examination at his arraignment. ASSOCIATED PRESS<\/p>\n A patient in the hospital\u2019s transitional housing walked out and traveled to Macy\u2019s in Midtown last year and stabbed a tourist from California<\/a> while she was changing her baby in a bathroom.<\/p>\n Kerri Aherne, 43, allegedly used a kitchen knife as she hacked the tourist\u2019s back and right arm, according to court documents. She was indicted on an attempted murder charge in Manhattan in January.<\/p>\n The state Office of Mental Health \u2014 which oversees MPC \u2014 said confidentiality laws prevent it from discussing the Rakowitz case.\u00a0<\/p>\n A judge would ultimately need to decide to release Rakowitz because he was committed by the court \u2014 but does not get a say in whether the convicted killer could be moved to the hospital\u2019s transitional housing.<\/p>\n Monika Beerle and Daniel Rakowitz are shown in an undated photo before her death on Aug. 19, 1989. Obtained by NY Post<\/p>\n Rakowitz waves to friends in court during jury deliberations on February 20, 1991. Michael Norcia\/NY Post<\/p>\n