Fasting sect leader again fed by tube

KINGMAN, Ariz. -- The leader of a polygamous church sect is being force-fed again in the Mohave County jail in Kingman after resuming his periodic practice of fasting while incarcerated.

Kirsten Mortenson, the medical director of the jail, notified the court in a July 31 correspondence that the physical condition of Warren Jeffs, 53, was deteriorating because of his refusal to eat.

Jeffs is the head of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, which has its headquarters along the Arizona-Utah border. It has a compound in Texas where more than 400 women and children were rounded up in April 2007.

Jeffs was sentenced to prison in Utah for rape-as-an-accomplice convictions. He awaits trial in Arizona, accused of assigning underage girls to spiritual and sexual unions with married men.

Mortenson informed Superior Court Judge Steve Conn that Jeffs had been unable to urinate and had grown weaker, and that his vital signs had worsened because of malnourishment.

"This deterioration will continue to accelerate and become harder to reverse the longer it persists," Mortenson said. "His death could be imminent without immediate medical intervention."

Mortenson said daily force- feedings were initiated July 31. Sheriff Tom Sheahan said Jeffs indicated over the weekend that he would cooperate and eat, but that he started fasting again.

Sheahan said Jeffs is secured and strapped to a chair when force-fed through a stomach tube. He said defense attorneys have endorsed the forced nutrition.

"They are in full support of everything we need to do to keep him healthy and make sure that he appears in court when necessary," Sheahan said.

He said Jeffs' sporadic fasting further complicates matters for jail staff and attorneys handling his court case.

Previous fasting and related malnourishment and dehydration resulted in Jeffs being rushed to Kingman Regional Medical Center last September. Jail Commander Bruce Brown said then that Jeffs, who is 6 feet 3 inches tall, should weigh no less than 160 pounds, but that his weight had dropped to 144 pounds.

Jeffs suffered similar symptoms in July 2008 when he was flown to Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center in Las Vegas for evaluation.

Conn has issued a minute order informing attorneys that he was not asked and does not intend to intervene in the operation of the jail or the care of its inmates.

The judge further indicated that he has no ability to order Jeffs' release for any health care treatment.

"The Defendant's medical issues, whether brought on by himself or some independent agency, are going to have to be addressed by some custodial facility somewhere and that facility for now appears to be the Mohave County jail," Conn's minute order stated.

Attorneys continue to conduct interviews in the Arizona criminal case, and no trial or hearing date has been set.