 Court: Naked, fasting inmate must be fed Quote:
Court: Naked, fasting inmate must be fed By Colleen Kottke
The Reporter ckottke@fdlreproter.com January 30, 2008
JUNEAU — A Dodge County court has ruled in favor of continued force-feedings for a naked inmate staging a hunger strike at Fox Lake Correctional Institution.
Judge Andrew Bissonnette ruled that the Department of Corrections (DOC) may continue to force-feed Warren G. Lilly Jr., 57, for the next six months. Bissonnette allowed that Lilly does not have to be force-fed on Sundays except upon the inmate’s request.
Lilly said that he began his fast in February 2004 and has been suing the state constantly since then in an effort to end his force-feeding, according to the complaint. Lilly has also refused to wear clothing for the last year.
Lilly, who is serving a 15-year sentence for an attack on his wife in 2002, said his actions are in protest of the injustices of the criminal justice and prison system, according to a post by Lilly’s family support network on the Wisconsin Network for Peace and Justice Web site. In a letter he submitted to court, Lilly wrote that his fasting and nudity is his way of rejecting anything to do with the DOC — food, water and clothing.
A physician testified during a Dec. 13 hearing that Lilly had acquired a cardiac condition that was “precipitated by his hunger strike,” according to court documents.
Lilly said that he plans to appeal Bissonnette’s decision, taking his force-feeding case to the Wisconsin Supreme Court. On Feb. 13, 2006, Federal District Judge Barbara Crabb dismissed an appeal by Lilly seeking relief and damages from a Racine County judge and the Racine Correctional Institution warden after the judge granted the DOC an order to force-feed the inmate.
Advocates for Lilly on the Web site said the Milwaukee man weighed 230 pounds when he began his hunger strike in 2004 and now weighs about 165 pounds. Three times a day, prison workers forcibly feed Lilly a nutrient-rich formula via a tube threaded through his nose.
Bissonnette said that Dodge County court officials review several similar cases involving inmate hunger strikes each year due to the proximity of four correctional institutions in the county. Knowing that Lilly’s case is likely to be heard in an appellate court, Bissonnette urged the Court of Appeals in his decision to adopt a common sense approach to such cases and not force the court into bi-monthly hearings.
“But for the forced nutrition and hydration by the DOC, Mr. Lilly would have passed away long ago,” Bissonnette said. “Due to the care and ministrations of the DOC, Lilly is still alive to complain about the treatment he is receiving.”
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