BENTONVILLE, Ark. - An inmate awaiting trial on a murder charge is suing the county, complaining he has lost more than 100 pounds because of the jailhouse menu.
Broderick Lloyd Laswell says he isn't happy that he's down to 308 pounds after eight months in the Benton County jail. He has filed a federal lawsuit complaining the jail doesn't provide inmates with enough food.
According to the suit, Laswell weighed 413 pounds when he was jailed in September. Police say he and a co-defendant fatally beat and stabbed a man, then set his home on fire.
"On several occasions I have started to do some exercising and my vision went blurry and I felt like I was going to pass out," Laswell wrote in his complaint. "About an hour after each meal my stomach starts to hurt and growl. I feel hungry again."
But Laswell then goes on to complain that he undertakes little vigorous activity.
"If we are in a small pod all day (and) do next to nothing for physical exercise, we should not lose weight," the suit says. "The only reason we lost weight in here is because we are literally being starved to death."
The suit also asks that the county be ordered to serve hot meals. The jail has served only cold food for years.
The meals, provided through Aramark Correctional Institution Services, average 3,000 calories a day, jail Capt. Hunter Petray told The Morning News of northwest Arkansas for a story Saturday.
A typical Western diet consists of 2,000 to 3,000 calories a day.
Laswell's suit was filed without a lawyer in U.S. District Court in Fayetteville.
Benton County ought to market their amazing weight loss program. It could just be like a nice resort hotel that serves the same food as their jail.
Also, this story fails to mention that the prisoner in question robbed and killed some guy.
To be entirely fair to the disgusting fatbody whose plight inspired this thread, he's awaiting trial and he hasn't actually been found guilty of anything yet. You may say that this is a distinction without a difference but I think it's vital that we keep it in mind. What if a jury finds that he's not guilty? Punishment is appropriate after someone has been proven to be guilty of a crime, not before.
Providing somebody with the recommended healthy amount of calories per day is not punishment.
I am not a physician, but if he has lost 105 pounds in eight months, something must be horribly, horribly wrong here. Maybe it's what they're feeding him. Maybe he has a tumor. But 105 pounds in eight months is frankly disturbing, no matter how fat he was before.
Not really.. thats about 3 lbs per week, a bit higher than most doctors would recommend for weightloss but only by around 1 lb.
The thing is that, if we take the prisoner's claims at face value, he is NOT trying to lose weight. He is not doing any unusual amount of exercise, he is not eating a special diet.
Now, it may be that he's lying, trying to gain sympathy or set the jail up for a lawsuit. But if he isn't, that's scary. Do people with AIDS lose weight that fast?
As he said, there is nothing to do, so to add some exitment into his daily life, and possibly gain himself an elite status in the jail with other inmates, he is able to waste government money on stupid law suites, so win or loose, everyone wins, and the tax payer pays.
Lawyers get extra work,
the inmates get status,
the inmates loose boredom,
A possibility of an improved menu,
Though 1 thought is, weight lose is reletive, as you get thinner, the amount of weight you loose at each point is less.
He may have lost more at the begining, such as 5 to even 10 pounds in the first week or or so while he gets used to the new diet, but then reduced weekly, till possible now loosing more like 1LB per week. on top of weight lose there is also water lose.
But true, this is completely stupid case waste of money. in the old days, hard labor, he would have lost a lot more.
>>8, hard labor was for convicted criminals. This is someone in a jail who has not yet been tried or found guilty of anything.
What's with you idiots who sympathize with this fat fuck? It must be because you're fat fucks too, and the thought of being in jail without all those cakes and crisps and sweets scares you worse than a bloody electric chair. Let the fat fuck starve. Better yet, beat his fat ass to death so's to avoid hearing any more frivolous tripe from his fat fucking face.
Right. We should execute everyone who's been accused of anything. Let's not bother with "frivolous tripe" like trials.
Guards recently discovered him giving away a sandwich to another inmate. He's full of shit.