HuffPo: California Prisons Can Force-Feed Inmates On Hunger Strike, Rules Federal Judge

shortformblog:

A federal judge approved a request from California and federal officials to force-feed inmates if necessary as a statewide prison hunger strike entered its seventh week.

Officials say they fear for the welfare of nearly 70 inmates who have refused all prison-issued meals since the strike began July 8 over the holding of gang leaders and other violent inmates in solitary confinement that can last for decades.

They are among nearly 130 inmates in six prisons who were refusing meals. When the strike began it included nearly 30,000 of the 133,000 inmates in California prisons.

While officials have portrayed the plan as being similar to the policy employed by hospitals, which provide food/nourishment to any unresponsive patient that lacks a do-not-resuscitate order, they’ve since confirmed that any DNR signed around the time the hunger strike began will automatically be considered invalid by medical personnel.