A prisoner tipping the scales at 400 pounds is suing prison officials for $1 million for failing to provide him clothing big enough to fit him.
He served his eight-month term in the t-shirt and sweat pants he wore upon arrival, which he washed every day in the shower. He was humiliated by the lack of proper prison attire–a green jumpsuit–and says he will require “expensive” psychiatric care, his suit alleges.
“I wake up still thinking I’m in jail and washing and washing and never feeling like I can wash enough,” the man said. “I never felt clean in there. And I cannot feel clean now no matter what I do.”
The man was in prison for threatening a woman with a gun.
Source: Kathianne Boniello and Frank Rosario, “Big-house fatshunista suing over lil’ jail garb,” New York Post, January 22, 2012, h/t faces of lawsuit abuse, a project of the U.S. Chamber Institute for Legal Reform
Maureen Martin, a former legal fellow at The Heartland Institute, passed away on February 5, 2013.
