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23 Wash. U. J.L. & Pol'y 151 (2007)
What They Can Do about It: Prison Administrators' Authority to Force-Feed Hunger-Striking Inmates

handle is hein.journals/wajlp23 and id is 155 raw text is: What They Can Do About It: Prison Administrators' Authority to Force-Feed Hunger-Striking Inmates Tracey M. Ohm* I. INTRODUCTION Prison inmates throughout history have employed hunger strikes as a means of opposition to authority.' Inmates engage in hunger strikes for a variety of reasons, often in an attempt to gain leverage against prison officials2 or garner attention for the inmate's plight or cause.3 Suicide is a motivating factor for some inmates.4 When a * J.D. Candidate (2007), Washington University in St. Louis School of Law. The author wishes to thank Professor Margo Schlanger for her guidance and expertise. 1. This Note examines hunger strikes undertaken by competent prison inmates. Analysis of hunger strikes by incompetent individuals or nonprisoners invokes different considerations. For more information about these differences, see Julie Levinsohn Milner, Dignity or Death Row: Are Death Row Rights to Die Diminished? A Comparison of the Right to Die for the Terminally III and the Terminally Sentenced?, 24 NEW ENG. J. ON CRIM. & CIV. CONFINEMENT 279 (1998). 2. B. JAYE ANNO, U.S. DEP'T OF JUSTICE, CORRECTIONAL HEALTH CARE: GUIDELINES FOR THE MANAGEMENT OF AN ADEQUATE DELIVERY SYSTEM 85 (2001); see also Illinois ex rel. I11. Dep't of Corr. v. Millard, 782 N.E.2d 966, 968 (Ill. App. Ct. 2003) (listing motivating reasons for an inmate's hunger strike as protest of a transfer, protest of treatment while in prison, and protest of continued imprisonment with an intent to continue strike until he was transferred back, released, or dead); Georgian Prisoners End Hunger Strike, RUSS. & CIS GEN. NEWSWIRE, Jan. 12, 2006, available at http://www.lexis.com (reporting prison hunger strikes had been organized by heads of criminal groups who were trying to exert control over inmates). 3. 1 MICHAEL B. MUSHLIN, RIGHTS OF PRISONERS 224-25 (3d ed. 2002); see also Zant v. Prevatte, 286 S.E.2d 715, 716 (Ga. 1982) (stating reason for prisoner's hunger strike was his desire to be transferred to North Carolina due to fear for his life inside the Georgia prison system); Mason Stockstill, Four Inmates Claim Hunger Strike for Poor Conditions, SUN (San Bernardino, Cal.), Dec. 29, 2005, available at http://www.lexis.com (featuring prison administrators explaining that prisoners sometimes declare themselves to be on hunger strikes despite the fact that they are still eating). 4. MUSHLIN, supra note 3, at 224-25; see also Laurie v. Senecal, 666 A.2d 806, 809 (R.I. 1995) (In respect to an incarcerated prisoner, we believe that there is no right under either the State or the Federal Constitution to override the compelling interest of the state in the preservation of his or her life and the prevention of suicide.); cf Steven C. Bennett, Note, The Privacy and Procedural Due Process Rights of Hunger Striking Prisoners, 58 N.Y.U. L. REV.