Conn. high court rules prisoners can be force-fed

Conn. high court rules prisoners can be force-fed

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — The Connecticut Supreme Court has ruled that state prison officials can restrain and force-feed inmates to protect them from life-threatening dehydration and malnutrition.

Today’s ruling came in the case of 51-year-old prisoner William Coleman, who stopped eating in September 2007 to protest his conviction on what he called a fabricated rape charge. His weight dropped from 237 pounds to 129 pounds over 13 months, and officials say they were forced to insert a feeding tube through his nose and into his stomach at least a dozen times.

Lawyers for the Liverpool, England, native say he’s now accepting liquid nutrition and has returned to a normal weight. They say the Connecticut Supreme Court is the first high court in any state to take up a challenge to prison force-feedings.