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ACLU defends Haitian hunger striker
January 12, 2000
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Florida filed papers today with the U.S. District Court in Miami to prevent the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) from force feeding a Haitian refugee who is in Day 47 of a hunger strike protesting his incarceration pending deportation proceedings.
The ACLU filed suit today on behalf of Arnel Belizaire, who has been incarcerated at the Krome Detention Center since September 12, 1998. The INS recently transferred him to Larkin Community Hospital in South Miami and obtained an order from the federal court permitting the INS to begin forced feeding, including having his arms and legs bound to his hospital bed, in order to end his hunger strike. On January 6th, the INS petitioned and obtained an Order from the U.S. District Court authorizing the hospital to administer forced nutrition and hydration to Belizaire.
In the papers filed today by ACLU of Florida Legal Director Andrew Kayton, the ACLU is seeking to have the federal court vacate or withdraw the Court's January 6th Order Granting INS' Petition for Emergency Court Order to Administer Nutrients so that the Court can set time for a hearing on the ACLU's brief.
In today's filing, the ACLU argues that hunger strikes are a traditional and dramatic form of protest that is protected by both the U.S. and Florida Constitutions. In 1996, the Florida 4th DCA ruled that the a Florida prison inmate could not be given medical treatment against his will in order to end his fast. This right, the Court ruled, is protected under the State Constitution's express right of privacy. The U.S. Supreme Court, in the important Cruzan case of 1990, observed that the U.S. Constitution grants a competent person a constitutionally protected right to refuse medical treatment, including lifesaving hydration and nutrition.
"Mr. Belizaire's purpose is political protest, not suicide," said ACLU Florida Legal Director Andy Kayton. "He does not wish to die, and he is attempting to protest his incarceration for more than a year by the INS."
A hearing has been scheduled for 4 p.m. Tuesday, January 18, before U.S. District Court Judge Alan S. Gold.
