DENVER—Oklahoma City bombing conspirator Terry Nichols says prison officials inserted IVs into his veins and force fed him following hunger strikes this year.
Nichols recently filed a handwritten document in a lawsuit pending in U.S. District Court against officials at the federal Supermax prison in Florence over the lack of whole grains, unpeeled fruit and refined foods in his diet. He said he has gone through three hunger strikes since February.
Prison officials force fed him twice after his weight dropped 25 and 35 pounds to 135 and 125 pounds, respectively, Nichols wrote.
He is serving life for conspiracy and involuntary manslaughter in the 1995 federal building bombing that killed 168 people. Timothy McVeigh was convicted of murder and executed.
Nichols’ lawsuit filed in March 2009 claims the prison’s food amounts to cruel and unusual punishment and is against his Christian religion. U.S. Magistrate Judge Craig Shaffer in June recommended that Nichols’ cruel and unusual punishment claim be tossed out. A decision on whether Nichols’ lawsuit can proceed on religious grounds is pending.
Prison officials argue the prison’s so-called “common fare” diet is Kosher and is designed to meet the dietary needs of a number of religions.
Prison spokesman Doug Cramer declined to comment on Nichols’ claims, citing medical privacy.
Prison policy on hunger strikes calls for restraining an inmate in a chair and administering a liquid diet through a tube routed through the nose and down to the stomach, Cramer said.
“That only occurs at a doctor’s discretion when we feel that an inmate’s life is in jeopardy,” he said.
The federal Bureau of Prison’s policy on hunger strikes also calls for using intravenous fluids if medically necessary.
Nichols claims medical personnel successfully administered fluids through one IV during attempts to end a hunger strike. In May, Nichols claims medical personnel spent three hours on an unsuccessful IV.
“An IV was not possible due to the severe dehydration… due to him not consuming any liquids either during his hunger strike,” Nichols wrote, referring to himself in the third person.
In a separate handwritten filing Friday in his criminal case, Nichols asked a judge to suspend his restitution payments to the victims of the bombing, arguing that he is unable to get a job while inside prison. He asked U.S. District Judge Richard Matsch to transfer him to a prison where he could get a job.
U.S. Attorney’s Office spokesman Jeff Dorschner declined comment, saying they have not received a copy of the filing.
In the document, Nichols said that along with restitution, he’s been ordered to pay $230 a month in child support. He said he has only been able to contribute $300 during his time in prison.
“Whenever possible he does purchase Christian based resource materials for his three children… to help guide his children since he is not able to be with them to instill godly values into their lives,” he wrote.
