DENVER-
Three prisoners serving potential life sentences in Colorado have taken the term jailhouse lawyer to new heights.
The inmates, being held in Walsenburg and Limon prisons, claim their lives have been threatened because they are being exposed to mosquitoes.
They said they are at risk of contacting West Nile virus or other diseases.
“Each attack constituted bodily injury, which the (Department of Corrections) had the power to prevent, but consciously elected not to,” wrote the inmates, acting as their own attorneys.
Last year, a Colorado Springs judge threw their case out, but they appealed.
Now the Colorado Court of Appeals has upheld the lower court decision.
Prison officials said no confirmed cases of West Nile virus have ever been found in the prison population, and inmates are provided mosquito repellant.
The inmates said they were bitten repeatedly by mosquitoes and suffered “the emotional and mental distress of whether or not each mosquito’s bite would result in death or serious bodily injury.”
Stephen G. Glover, Alan Smith and Michael Freeman said the bites caused “high fever, headache, neck stiffness and muscle weakness.”
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Information from: The Gazette,
