Convicted British 'shoe-bomber' terrorist Richard Reid, who was found guilty in 2003 of trying to blow up a transatlantic commercial flight, has been refusing food for several weeks and is being force fed by authorities in a US prison.
Reid is currently serving a life sentence in the notorious Supermax prison in Denver, America's highest-security federal lockup, after he was convicted of trying to ignite two bombs in his shoes while on board a Paris-to-Miami flight on American Airlines. He was subdued by passengers before he could detonate the explosives.
You know, if he had had a $5 jetflame lighter instead of a balky pack of paper matches, we would have lost several airliners before we figured out what was happening.
Reid, 35, has refused 59 meals since March at the Supermax prison, a federal government lawyer said in court filings.
59 meals in 100 days isn't much.
| If I did that I might even lose weight ... |
The government attorney, in a previously undisclosed court filing dated April 14, wrote that prison officials determined on April 7 "that medical intervention was necessary" and Reid was being force fed and hydrated.
Oh, yes. We want him to live a long, healthy life.
In an updated court filing last Friday, the government attorney wrote that Reid remains on the hunger strike and that prison officials continue to monitor his condition. |