HARTFORD, Conn. – A Connecticut judge has ruled that state prison officials may continue force-feeding a British inmate who began a hunger strike in September 2007 over claims he was convicted on a fabricated sexual assault charge.
William Coleman, who is serving an eight-year sentence for rape, said he began his hunger strike to protest against what he considers a corrupt judicial system. The state began force-feeding Coleman in September 2008 after he stopped accepting fluids, but he argued that the feedings violate his right of free speech.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Connecticut estimates that state Department of Correction staff force-fed Coleman at least a dozen times. He has since voluntarily taken some fluids.
