back to article US lag sues over prison crash diet

A US prisoner awaiting trial on a murder rap* has filed suit against the county after losing more than 45kg in eight months on an Arkansas prison "starvation" diet, AP reports. Broderick Lloyd Laswell now tips the scales at 140kg, having weighed 187kg when he was incarcerated in Benton County jail last September. His suit, …

COMMENTS

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  1. dervheid
    Joke

    Looks like...

    he must be getting some (one handed!!) excercise then!!

    Ingrate Inmate!

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Paris Hilton

    League of Fatties

    Every single day, the grim future of Judge Dredd comes closer and closer to reality. I can picture this man leading a pack of food-crazed fellow inmates in an audacious escape attempt, perhaps involving a giant catapult launching a 200kg human missile. What can stop the awesome inertia of a enormously overweight convict with a 500-year sentence?

    I can also picture this man eating his cellmate. One day there are two prisoners; the next day, there is only one. Perhaps that's the warden's long-term goal. Divide the prisoners into predators and prey, and let nature run its course.

  3. Chuck Chandler
    Paris Hilton

    Don't drop the soap

    They like their women skinny in Arkansas. That's what he is worried about.

  4. Dave Silver badge

    am I the only one...

    ...to mis-read that district as "Fattyville"?

  5. Mat
    Thumb Up

    Crikey!

    A prison that isn't run like a holiday camp.

  6. Will
    Alert

    187Kg was pretty fat, though

    Sounds like he's coming closer to normal weight then, the fat murdering bastard. I hope he enjoys his cold lettuce sandwiches.

  7. Mr Smin
    Stop

    Aramark eh?

    That sounds about right - they recently took over catering at my local NHS hospital. Look forward to hospital patients being under-fed.

  8. Wize

    I do not understand

    Why prisoners expect treatment that law abiding citizens do not get.

    If you hit hard times and do not have money, you starve. What this guy gets would seem like a banquet to such people.

    They get other luxuries such as satellite/cable tv and not just the basic packages either and that when a TV is a luxury to some people.

    Students scrimp and save to get through uni. Some drop out as they cannot afford it, but these guys get it all paid for, and help finding a job at the end of it.

    They did wrong, they should suffer.

  9. Richard
    Coat

    140Kg is STILL pretty fat

    He's only whinging because cannibalism will mean extra years on the sentence.

    Mine's several sizes too big now...

  10. Paul

    RE: am I the only one...

    Nope....

  11. John Stag

    How to lose weight 101

    "If we are in a small pod all day [and] do next to nothing for physical exercise..."

    Bzzzzt.

    The human body uses most of its calories in maintaining body temperature. An hour in the gym only burns the equivalent of a couple of Oreos.

  12. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Down

    Good.

    He is there to be punished, not to be fed. If he wants to eat more, perhaps he should consider going straight, getting a job and paying for his own food.

  13. Simon B
    Pirate

    blurry vision due to being fat and lazy!

    Laswell explains: "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 ..."

    That's not due to lack of food, it's probably due to you being an overweight, lazy twat! who's not done excercise for years!

  14. Ben

    He's a *suspect*

    He hasn't actually been tried yet. So you can't call him a "fat murdering bastard".

  15. Bad Beaver
    Boffin

    likely not the lack of food

    —more likely symptoms of some sort of embolism, maybe something clotty got loose & wanderin' after all that unaccustomed exercise. Judging from the assumed dimensions of Mr. Stabber, that "something" might be a pound of regular butter, an opened jar of peanut butter (small) that had adhered itself to the wall of an artery like a suction cup, or maybe the head or ribcage of some unsuspecting small quadruped, like a cat or small dog. If he survives the starvation for some more time, he might be able to cash in big time with a book along the line of "murderously skinny—the prison diet".

  16. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    We have more people in prison

    Than any other country in the world, and the price of food is going up and up if we do feed them we will be going broke, and if we don't we won't be able to get anyone to watch them.

  17. Paul Talbot
    Alert

    Bonus?

    So, he was a fatty before he went in (187 kg is nearly 30 stone!), and now he's getting a diet as part of his incarceration. No offence to anyone that big, but if you're losing weight on 3,000 calories a day, you were doing something seriously wrong with your diet before you went in.

    I'd call this a bonus surprise - when he's released (or set free after the trial), he'll be able to wear clothes that don't double as a 2-man tent.

  18. Mike
    Paris Hilton

    Weightwatchers

    There are millions of people who'd PAY for that kind of diet!

    Anyone noticed a load of contradictions in this tho?

    He says they get next to no exercise, yet he said he was feeling giddy when he started exercising. Besides which, a 27-stoner would surely feel giddy do some form of exercise anyhow? (he surely can't be used to it else he wouldn't be 27 stone!)

    In summary tho, if he's suffering, so what? At least he isn't dead like his victim. Why do crims think they deserve sympathy for less than perfect conditions (and given he's on 3k calories a day, they're hardly depriving him of food - most squaddie ration boxes only have 3,500 cals and that's for people living in the field and mobile all day with the world on their backs)

    Paris, cos she couldn't get enough of what she needed when she was in jail, either

  19. Graham Hawkins
    Pirate

    Show some respect for his complaint...

    then force feed the murdering git Big Macs till he explodes.

  20. Slaine
    Thumb Up

    LOL - Where's ma belliwheel?

    @ League of Fatties by Ashley Pomeroy

  21. Mike Smith
    Coat

    I's his own fault

    If he hadn't eaten all the pies before he went in, there'd be enough to go round.

  22. Ben Mathews
    Boffin

    For a second there...

    Christ... I just assumed you were using lbs when I first erad this and was wondering why people were making the 'fatty' comments.

    In the interests of not causing this sort of confusion again, please try to use reg standard units in the future, it is after all what they are there for.

    187 Kg is around 44.52 Jubs I believe.

  23. TEQ

    "then force feed the murdering git Big Macs till he explodes."

    And finally, monsieur, a wafer-thin mint.

    No.

    Oh sir! It's only a tiny little thin one.

    No. Fuck off - I'm full...

    Oh sir... it's only wafer thin.

    Look - I couldn't eat another thing. I'm absolutely stuffed. Bugger off.

    Oh sir, just... just one...

    Oh all right. Just one.

    Just the one, sir... voila... bon appetit...

  24. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Blurry vision

    No wonder, exercising at 22 stone down from 25. Unless he was some sort of "WWE" steroid freakbefore he got sent down... at which point 3000cal a dy probably wasn't enough to fuel his base metabolic rate.

    So, without knowing his physique before his incarceration, it's impossible to say whether this is a justified complaint or not.

    Aha. Pictures.

    http://worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=62765

    He's morbidly obese and if he's found guilty and sentenced to death, he'll be glad to have lost some weight so there's more chance the lethal injection actually hits a vein.

    Chump.

  25. Anonymous Coward
    Stop

    Surely...

    ...you mean he now weighs 33.3 Jub, down from a hefty 44.5 Jub before his incarceration

  26. Anonymous Coward
    Flame

    @wize

    >"If you hit hard times and do not have money, you starve. "

    What bloody backward primitive country do you live in? Over here in the UK we have this wonderful thing called a benefits system. It's not much, you're still damn poor and have to struggle, but it's just enough to keep you from actually dying of starvation. Because we believe in society, and society's job is to see we're all taken care of, and no-one left behind. Yes! Even those who aren't already wealthy and privileged!

  27. Anonymous Coward
    Coat

    a reality check ppl

    @ matt

    mannn i would love to see how some of the geeks in here would cope with prison life. i myself have spent about a year at HMs pleasure in HMP liverpool (biggest jail in europe when i was there). now, i guess things might have changed a bit in the last 10 years BUT it is certainly no holiday camp. i would imagine at least 90% of the geeks here would be crying their eyes out most nights.

    some misconceptions:

    :: they all have TVs and games consoles - NOPE, some jails do. this is the problem. you all hear that one jail does something then assume all jails do. stop reading the daily mail! liverpool didnt even have electricity in the cells!

    :: jail is 'easy' - NOPE as i said before ive seen things that you wont want to see

    :: prison warders are all ok - NOPE! some are but i know of plenty of occurrances of screws assaulting inmates, theft from inmates and i know of at least one death by a warder

    :: the food is good. - NOPE and you certainly dont eat the porrige - as it has a high sperm count!

    :: you are out all day - NOPE! i was locked up for 23 hours a day, nothing was provided that would help anyone in the outside world and prison 'rehabilitation' simply doesnt exist.

    you lot really should experience it as it is a massive eye opener on a daily basis you see attacks, violence and corruption by officials. not to mention a whole 1 hour visit per month!

    that said - this guy is a murderer - so just let him waste away! save a fortune on the leccy bills :)

    @wize

    man, incarceration is the punishment. the fact you cannot drink, have sex (in a nice way anyway) see your mates etc for the term is the punishment - not the fact that you will be badly treated as well. maybe this is where the law needs chaging. none-voilent crime should mean you go to a different place. murderers and rapists and paedos should be badly treated - but for example should you be in such a place for none-payment of a fine? (btw rapists and paedos without doubt get THE BEST TREATMENT IN JAIL! this also needs looking at!)

    the food in jail is ABSOLUTE CRAP. i have to admit. you wouldnt pay for the food you get bought - it makes jamies turkey twizzlers look amazing! i lost about 2 stone in a year. taking me down to about 9stone!

  28. Jamie
    Linux

    Tough luck

    He would not have to worry about this if he had just obeyed the law and not killed a man. Should be treated to 6 days of bread and water with one day of full meals along with a regiment of hard labour.

  29. Bad Beaver
    Thumb Up

    Oh, the pictures

    Pure gold. I am also delighted that the linked article poses the first thing on my mind when I read this piece, namely the question of whether he might have eaten his victim.

  30. fishman

    Calories

    You need 12-14 calories per pound. At 147kg (323 lbs), he needs 3700 calories/day. Assuming 3000 calories/day: To loose 1 lb of body weight takes a drop of around 3500 calories. So right now he is loosing 1 lb every 5 days. Eventually, he will get down to around 250 lbs.

    People pay good money to diet like this, and he is getting it for free.

  31. Ian Michael Gumby

    3,000 Cal a day diet?

    Yeah, if your body was used to eating an 8,000 or 10,000 calorie (ie kilo calorie)

    daily diet, then you're going to lose weight.

    As to why he's suing?

    Its his right as an American to sue.

    He's doing this to burden the court system and to make it more expensive to try him. He's probably looking for them to cut him a deal to drop his suit.

  32. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Down

    Aramark

    They ran the cafeteria at my last job.

    I think I'd rather try the prison menu, because the one they rotated for us wasn't terribly appealing. Served with a grimace and a sigh.

  33. ImaGnuber

    @AC - a reality check ppl

    One of the things I love about the Reg is range of experience brought to the table.

  34. Anonymous Coward
    Happy

    @ ImaGnuber

    :) yup - im certainly not the usual 'IT GEEK' :) posting as AC for obvious reasons lol

  35. John Band

    Maybe if...

    "(btw rapists and paedos without doubt get THE BEST TREATMENT IN JAIL! this also needs looking at!)"

    AIUI this is because if you let them anywhere near the 'normal' prisoners, the normals glass their eyes and slit their throats. Perhaps if they didn't, then the sex offenders wouldn't need to be segregated from everyone else.

  36. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    12-14 calories per pound.

    Only "on average" for an "average" human. When you're 50% (largely metabolically inactive) adipose tissue, that average drops.

    Since he's complaining just to more of a pain in the ass, the courts should be able to punish him for wilful ignorance*. Rendering into tallow sounds about right.

    * Ignorance, I can live with. Ignorance can be educated. If the person doesn't have the capacity to learn, fair enough. Wilful ignorance (where they could know better) should be the first and probably only crime returned to capital status.

  37. KarlTh

    Thank God

    Most of the posters here aren't on the jury. Do you routinely assume SUSPECTS are guilty?

    Which is irrelevant to the story, which is about how anyone can try to sue anyone. Whether they win is another matter.

  38. yeah, right.

    interesting.

    He is "charged" with a crime. He hasn't been CONVICTED of a crime yet.

    Therefore most of the posters above are not only loony, but fucking dangerous if they are willing to treat people who are merely charged with a crime as fully-fledged criminals. Maybe the posters above should move to the USA and work for the people who set up Guantanamo?

  39. LaeMi Qian
    Dead Vulture

    Well, I'd certainly kill...

    ...to loose that sort of weight!!!

  40. kain preacher

    @wize

    "They get other luxuries such as satellite/cable tv and not just the basic packages either and that when a TV is a luxury to some people"

    Excuse me , you ever talk to some that works at a prion or was incarcerated.

    I dont how this myth exist. In the US prisoners are limited to what they can watch. Nothing with porn, violence or news. In alot of jails and prisons the TV is only in the common area and its a privilege.

  41. JohnG

    They've probably extended his lifespan...

    ..although they might be cutting it short after a conviction.

  42. E_Nigma

    Hmmm

    If he's getting 3000 calories a day he's not starving, but losing 47kg in eight months might not be that healthy either.

  43. Moss Icely Spaceport
    Joke

    Fatshank Redemption?

    He'd need a mighty big poster of Racquel to hide that hole!

  44. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Criminals' "Rights" - what about honest people's Rights?

    Prisons are largely a joke these days, due to the bizarre focus on criminals' supposed "rights".

    Here is some detail of the new prison just built in Canberra, Australia:

    "Foremost in the minds of the designers was protecting the rights of inmates as far as possible, which would allow prisoners more privacy than before and even access to talk to the media. "

    huh? Foremost in their minds should be protecting WE HONEST CITIZENS from the criminal scum who have chosen to become prisoners.

    "Wider doors and specially designed cottages are among the features helping to cater for disabled prisoners."

    "An open plan and uninterrupted lines of sight are all intended to ensure that guests of inmates are not traumatised when visiting the jail."

    "Mr Paget said reflecting the rules of the Human Rights Act within the prison was a tough process."

    No shit sherlock - people who show complete disregard for OUR RIGHTS don't fit into the Human Rights Act? Who'd-a-guessed...

    "Privacy is also a big issue, with the rights of prisoners not to be "snooped on" in their cells and freedom to talk to family and even the media influencing design."

    Since when do criminals have a RIGHT to not be snooped on"?

    What kind of garbage is this?

    "Five-bedroom, family cottages will be built on the grounds, borrowing from ideas already used in prisons in Perth and South Australia.

    The cottages are for both remand and sentenced prisoners, have the appearance of a normal property, are self-catering and take into account the needs of disabled occupants."

    How nice, a holiday resort for CRIMINAL SCUM.

    "Razor-wire fencing has been done away with to create a less fearsome and more open feel in the 75ha site. Natural barriers are used instead, such as the fall and rise of the ground."

    Hang on, what was that one again?

    "Razor-wire fencing has been done away with to create a less fearsome and more open feel in the 75ha site. Natural barriers are used instead, such as the fall and rise of the ground."

    No, that must be a mistake - or is it the plot for a new episode of Yes Minister?

    "Razor-wire fencing has been done away with to create a less fearsome and more open feel in the 75ha site. Natural barriers are used instead, such as the fall and rise of the ground."

    "Sloping on the ground allows for views of Mt Ainslie, which Mr Paget said was intended to "create a more positive prison experience"."

    Oooh yes, you'd hate for criminals to have a NEGATIVE "prison experience" - they might even stop being criminals if they have a miserable time in prison.....and then what would all these social-workers do for a living?

  45. Slaine
    Pirate

    rudimentary rectum re-alignment

    @wize By [another one of those] Anonymous Coward [s] ... "Over here in the UK we have this wonderful thing called a benefits system"... you forgot to mention that it is primarily for the use of non-English speakers, a wide variety of illegal and politically dubious foreign immigrants, single mothers and the great unwashed army of the chronically stupid. People who *work* have a "tax system" which does exactly the opposite to generate exactly the same effect - a general level of nationally unacceptable poverty.

  46. Juliette Martens

    A man's gotta do what a man's gotta do

    He was naturally outraged when they started serving him diet Cokes with his fries & burger.

    @ Slaine - I like the subtlety of your views. You must be so busy *working* that there's no time left to inform yourself by any means other than a quick scan of the Daily Mail.

    Now if you'll excuse me, I'll just scoff down a Big Mac before going back down de coalmoines.

  47. Phil Brett

    Unfair

    Criminals should get their just desserts!

  48. Anonymous Coward
    Coat

    I'm in two minds over this...

    but quite frankly, I think he's making a meal out of the issue

    [the one with the arrow pattern, please]

  49. Thomas Vestergaard
    Boffin

    Punishment

    There seems to be a general misconception about the punishment of criminals. As most of us live in civilised countries, the punishment by going to jail is the loss of your freedom - nothing more, nothing else.

    We could decide to use ill-treatment as a punishment - for instance as it is done in several Middle Eastern countries like Saudi Arabia and Iran.

    Secondly, why do you think we punish criminals? To teach them a lesson? Nope.

    The reason is to pamper the sense of justice of the victims and the general public, as most people appear to still believe in "an eye for an eye...". The society is however interested in trying to make good citizens of as many of the people in the realm as possible (not just criminals). And locking them up is a really expensive and inefficient way to try and achieve that.

    When it comes to the rights of the inmates, you got to remember that they are humans, and have rights as such - human as well as civil. These obviously need to be respected. Monsters live under your bed, when you turn of the light - not in the prisons. At least that is what a recently retired homicide detective superintendent told in an interview last year...

    Knowing all these reasons does however not stop me for feeling the desire for revenge over criminals. And I suppose this is a major reason why politicians will keep talking about "harsher punishments" to get more votes rather than trying to take precautionary measures against crime.

  50. Slaine
    Boffin

    fair enough

    okay - so I presume he's gonna do the honourable thing and let the other inmates eat him.

    oh - and Ms Martens, no, I don't "do" the Daily Mail, 'isms' are not good for the soul and I suggest you make every possible conscious effort to avoid it too. I don't "do" the Sport either, although I'm sure you would find both the intellectual content and the the language level more readily acceptable. I do "do" real life. Any common ground there you'd care to discuss? Sorry for the confusion though - I can't quite work out which bit of your comment is supposed to be the sarcastic bit.

  51. John PM Chappell
    Flame

    @ Slaine

    You apparently don't do English grammar or well written comments either, however it's the ridiculous content that really caught my eye.

    It might be fashionable (with the rise in Tory sympathy and increasing BNP support) to talk utter bollocks about those on benefits and particularly to claim anyone 'forrun' is some sort of criminal mastermind simultaneously stealing 'our jobs' whilst living a millionaire lifestyle on benefits but the reality is actually a lot more sad than that.

    In the UK we have an appallingly low (real) average income, when you consider the cost of living and the kind of money certain indiviudals are paid. This is a problem that the minimum wage was meant to tackle but due to a general lack of spine it was introduced at a pathetically low level, many people actually saw their pay frozen or even reduced _down_ to the minimum wage rate.

    Taxation is not really that high; many nations pay a good deal more in income tax (the only tax that workers pay which others will not) and our present government is quite keen to let anyone who might pay a serious amount of tax dodge it with some shady residency status anyway (not that the [other] Tories will change that). The genuinely high taxes (which ought to be challenged as illegal, since the money they are paid with has already been taxed) are those on commodities such as tobacco products, alcohol and especially petroleum products.

    Single Mothers get preferential housing assignments (though usually in really nasty areas) because the welfare of the child is rated higher than that of a single adult on their own. They receive benefits to assist them with the child, just as any other mother on low income would. What exactly is your beef with this? Aye, she got pregnant and there's no father in sight, big deal.

    Non-English speakers? And? It's not a requirement that we speak English, you know? I assure you that mono-lingual Gaels would take your jingoistic comment as an invitation to rearrange your facial features and to be frank, quite rightly so. Primary language is irrelevant and any EU citizen has full rights in the UK just as any UK citizen does in another EU nation.

    As for the chronically stupid... they are smart enough to realize they can get by more comfortably on benefits than they can at the bottom end of the job market. This is a problem and aye, they are lazy. Humans _are_ lazy, all our technology ultimately comes back to "how can I do this with less effort / more quickly / better?". Are there individuals who could take jobs which will pay them more than their benefits? Certainly. Should they be made to either take the job or come off the benefits? Aye. However, the system simply does not work like that and it should. These people are choosing to have a lower but livable income for no work rather than a higher (though not massive) one for a lot of effort, which is hardly stupid. Until this loophole is closed they would, arguably, be stupid not to take advantage.

    In short, your anger should be directed at the government, especially the DWP, and a relatively small number of benefits claimants. The rest of them, for all that they may have made stupid life choices, are trying to make the best of what they have and are sensibly taking advantage of the benefits system which is, after all, there to assist people in financial need.

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