''Lantz v. Coleman''
[''Lantz v. Coleman'']
978 A. 2d 164 (Conn. Super. Ct. 2009) is a
Connecticut
Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its capita ...
superior court case that addresses the constitutionality of
forcibly feeding prison inmates on
hunger strike
A hunger strike is a method of non-violent resistance in which participants fast as an act of political protest, or to provoke a feeling of guilt in others, usually with the objective to achieve a specific goal, such as a policy change. Most ...
s.
[Spencer, Mark.]
Judge Set To Rule On Force-Feeding Of Inmate
''The Hartford Courant'', Nov. 11, 2009 The court ruled in favor of force feeding.
Case
The defendant in the case, William B. Coleman, is a British national who was sentenced to eight years in state prison in 2005 for sexually assaulting his wife.
She alleged Coleman raped her two days after he filed for custody of their children. He was convicted of sexual assault and unlawful imprisonment. He appealed, arguing that his wife had
falsely accused him of rape in order to gain custody of their children.
British man to be force-fed in US jail - Americas, World - The Independent
/ref> The conviction was affirmed on appeal in 2007.[
In September 2007, Coleman stopped eating solid foods. Some time later, he started to refuse all liquids and nutritional supplements, other than occasional milk, juice and water during the Christmas season, to spare his family from his death during the holidays.][ During this time, his weight dropped from to no more than .][
The commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Correction, Theresa C. Lantz, sued for an injunction permitting the prison to force-feed Coleman.][
Coleman was assisted by the ]American Civil Liberties Union
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is a nonprofit organization founded in 1920 "to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States". T ...
of Connecticut in presenting his case to Judge James Graham of the Connecticut Superior Court.[Beyond Guantanamo: Torture Thrives in Connecticut]
/ref> On May 21, 2009, the court issued the injunction allowing the prison to force-feed Coleman.[ The decision stated that while mentally competent persons have a right to decline medical treatment, convicts lose some of their rights while imprisoned and allowing Coleman to starve himself to death violated the prison's obligation to preserve the life of inmates and that force feeding was a medically harmless process when performed under sedation. His death from lack of nutrition would potentially cause unrest within the prison, and given his expected release from prison "his death would deprive his innocent, dependent children of his future financial support."
In 2012, Coleman was paroled but soon arrested and imprisoned after refusing to register as a convicted sex offender.][Nicholas Rondinone (24 June 2014]
The Hartford Courant. Accessed 03 July 2022 In 2014, he was deported to England.[
]
Significance
The Coleman case has pitted several of the nation's leading bioethicists
Bioethics is both a field of study and professional practice, interested in ethical issues related to health (primarily focused on the human, but also increasingly includes animal ethics), including those emerging from advances in biology, med ...
and physicians against the Connecticut prison system. The University of Pennsylvania's Arthur Caplan
Arthur L. Caplan (born 1950) is the Drs. William F. and Virginia Connolly Mitty Professor of Bioethics at New York University Grossman School of Medicine and the founding director of the Division of Medical Ethics.
Caplan has made many contribut ...
, who testified for Coleman at the trial, wrote in the Hartford Courant:
See also
* Ian Brady hunger strike
Notes
{{DEFAULTSORT:Coleman v. Lantz
Connecticut state case law
Force-feeding
2009 in United States case law
2009 in Connecticut
Hunger strikes
Penal system in Connecticut