“The Longest Hunger Strike”

He stopped eating on September 17, 2007. Most of the time he drinks water, juice, and nutrient drinks like Ensure. When he’s physically able, he escalates his protest by refusing even liquids. At those times he gargles with milk or sucks on cough drops to get the metallic taste of starvation out of his mouth. His is the longest hunger strike in the U.S. that I can find record of.

Today, over at Guernica, Ann Neumann reports on Connecticut prisoner William Coleman’s protest of his conviction and the state’s decision to force-feed him. It’s a rough read, but maybe you’ve had it too easy today.