Connecticut Supreme Court Hears Hunger Strike Case

The Connecticut Supreme Court heard arguments Tuesday in the case of William Coleman, an inmate seeking the right to refuse force-feedings by the state Department of Correction.

"They strap him into a chair, strap down his hands and force a tube down his throat," attorney William E. Murray told the Supreme Court justices, describing how Coleman has been restrained and fed against his will during his four-year hunger strike. Murray is acting as a cooperating attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union of Connecticut, which is representing Coleman.

Coleman seeks to overturn a lower court ruling that granted the Department of Correction permission to force-feed him. The ACLU-CT argues that the force-feeding via a nasogastric tube suppresses Coleman's hunger strike and violates his First Amendment right to protest, as well as violating his right to bodily privacy and integrity.

"He has a right to be free from the state's interference with his bodily integrity," Murray said.

There is scant domestic precedent involving cases like this, said David McGuire, staff attorney for the ACLU-CT, which makes it appropriate to look outside the United States for guidance. Most international authority prohibits the force-feeding of competent detainees on a hunger strike, he said.

"We hope the Supreme Court will stop the state from continuing this barbaric practice," McGuire said.