Free Republic

Prison inmates across the country are preparing to go on strike by refusing to eat or work, as a way to protest what they call 'prison slavery' and poor conditions. Though the extent of the planned strike is not known, prisoners in at least 17 states say they will be taking part in coordinated action, which will begin on Tuesday and last through September 9. Organizers say the strike is partly in response to the April riot in South Carolina's Lee Correctional Institution, where seven inmates were killed by other prisoners when gang tensions boiled over. The masterminds of the...

A very sick 78-year-old doctor is dying in a Michigan prison, an anachronism left over from the 20th century. Should we let him die in prison, or do we have the decency to say, "Enough is enough. Release him and let him die at home"? The doctor is Jack Kevorkian, who was sentenced in 1999 to 10 to 25 years in Michigan's Lakeland Correctional Facility for Men. He traded his freedom for openly, shamelessly touting what he called our "right to die with dignity." He'd spent the 10 prior years brashly, illegally helping 130 terminally ill people end excruciatingly painful...

A US federal judge yesterday refused to order the reinsertion of Terri Schiavo's feeding tube, denying an emergency request from the brain-damaged woman's parents. United States District Judge James Whittemore said the 41-year-old woman's parents had not established a "substantial likelihood of success" at trial on the merits of their arguments. Rex Sparklin, a lawyer with the law firm representing Mrs Schiavo's parents, said lawyers were immediately appealing to the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta to "save Terri's life." That court was already considering an appeal on whether Mrs Schiavo's right to due process had been violated. Reaction...