NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — A Tennessee death row prisoner declared a hunger strike on Wednesday, saying he was protesting issues with medical care, the quality of the food, and individual padlocks installed on cell doors that he says are a safety hazard.
Howard Willis was sentenced to death in 2010 for the murders eight years earlier of newlyweds Adam Chrismer, 17, and Samantha Leming Chrismer, 16, of Chickamauga, Georgia. A friend, Darlene Kimbrough, spoke to him on Wednesday afternoon and confirmed that Willis had started a hunger strike and delivered a statement to prison officials.
Michael Rimmer, another death row inmate who acts as a helper to sick and disabled inmates like Willis, was given a copy of the statement. He read it over the phone to Kimbrough, who recorded it. Willis' attorneys said they were aware of the statement.
In the statement, the 73-year-old Willis complained of a nurse at the Riverbend Maximum Security Institution who he said was causing so many problems with medications that “prisoners will not take needed medications from her, because she gives the wrong medications.” He also said the nurse had ”harassed and openly maligned" him.
“He's been sick with untreated medical issues for some time now," Rimmer added, speaking of Willis. "We think he may have had a slight stroke while he was asleep, and his cognitive abilities have been greatly hindered,”
Willis said he is also protesting the installation of padlocks on the cell doors in death row along with key-operated gates on cages that surround each door.
Willis pointed to a 1985 ruling in federal court that addressed similar issues in Tennessee at the time. The judge in that case ruled that the lack of a central locking system and absence of fire drills were “serious safety problems" which he ordered the state to address.
Willis also is protesting the quality of the food, which makes his hunger strike “'not so difficult',” Rimmer said Willis wrote.
A spokesperson for the Tennessee Department of Correction did not immediately have a comment on Wednesday afternoon.
Willis was forced to act as his own lawyer during his original trial and has been seeking a new trial, claiming multiple violations of his constitutional rights. On Jan. 22, the Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals denied his petition. His attorneys are currently considering next steps.
“In the time that we have represented Mr. Willis we have become aware that inmates are struggling to receive a basic level of medical care,” attorney Josh Hedrick said in an email. “We hope that Mr. Willis’s concerns are heard soon.”
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