October 19, 2010

Sotomayor Says Supreme Court Should Have Heard HIV Appeal

Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor said the court should have listened to the appeal of a Louisiana inmate who said prison officials subjected him to cruel and unusual punishment after he refused to take HIV medications, reports the Courthouse News Service. Inmate Anthony Pitre stopped taking his meds as a protest to a transfer and, he says, was subsequently subjected to hard outdoor labor, which caused him intense physical pain. While Sotomayor called Pitre’s refusal to take meds “foolish,” she said his “allegations, if true, amount to gratuitous infliction of wanton and unnecessary pain.”

To read the Courthouse News story, click here.

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