The American Civil Liberties Union of Connecticut will head to court next week to defend an inmate’s right to protest his conviction with a hunger strike.
William Coleman, who initiated his hunger strike in Sept. 2007, has been given intravenous fluids at least 10 times since Sept. 22, 2008 and has been force fed through a nasogastric tube at least twice this year.
The ACLU will ask Superior Court Judge James Graham to vacate his decision last January, which allowed the Corrections Department to take whatever means necessary to preserve Coleman’s life. The ACLU stepped in this past summer and argued that the court’s decision to grant the state permission to force feed Coleman violates his free speech and privacy rights.
The ACLU will be in Hartford Superior Court at 10 a.m. Thursday, Jan. 29 to begin arguments in the case.
Click here to read more about why Coleman is on a hunger strike.
