Jail says polygamist leader's health improving
 
By JENNIFER DOBNER
The Associated Press
Dallas Morning News
 
Officials from an Arizona jail say polygamous church leader Warren Jeffs remains on a feeding tube, but his health appears to be improving after eating a few meals.

Mohave County sheriff's spokeswoman Trish Carter said Jeffs ate a breakfast of eggs, potatoes and fruit Thursday morning. Jeffs has refused most food and liquids for more than a week as part of a self-imposed religious fast.

"As of today, the medical director did make a comment that it appears he is getting better," Carter said Thursday. "We are monitoring his intake, and he is cooperating on and off."

Medical staff at the Kingman, Ariz., jail began force-feeding the 53-year-old head of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints last Friday after the jail doctor said she feared Jeffs' death could be "imminent" without medical intervention.

In a letter to a Mohave County Superior Court judge, Dr. Kirsten Mortenson said Jeffs' vital signs were poor and he was suffering from peripheral edema — a swelling of the extremities — caused by malnutrition.

In addition to breakfast Thursday, Jeffs ate a sandwich and an orange early Tuesday. A feeding tube remains in place and is providing liquid nutrition, Carter said. Staff is also forcing him to get up and walk for 20 minutes every two hours, sometimes outdoors in an exercise yard, she said.

Jeffs is in the jail awaiting trials on charges related to alleged underage marriages of polygamous sect girls.

Since coming to the jail in February 2008, Jeffs has typically fasted for "a couple of days" every two weeks, Carter said. During those periods, staff puts fruit and drinks in Jeffs' 7-by-12-foot cell. It's unclear how much he eats and drinks during those fasts, she said.

Deeply religious, the tall and slender Jeffs has often engaged in lengthy religious fasts throughout his incarceration, which began following an August 2006 arrest near Las Vegas. In Utah, where he was tried and convicted on two counts of rape as an accomplice in 2007, he lost some 30 pounds, suffered serious depression and attempted suicide by hanging. Long hours of prayer also once left Jeffs with ulcerated knees.

Earlier this week, Jeffs' Tucson attorney, Michael Piccarreta, said he believes Mohave County officials were doing a good job of caring for his client. He said officials reacted appropriately in administering forced feeding.

"He's just trying to practice his religion in very difficult circumstances," said Piccarreta, who contends that the charges amount to religious persecution. "Throughout history you have seen political and religious prisoners who have declined food on occasion, and I think Mr. Jeffs is part of that history."

Jeffs has been head of the Utah-based FLDS church since 2002. Despite incarceration, he continues to be revered as a prophet by an estimated 12,000 followers. The church practices polygamy in arranged marriages. Members are scattered across several western states and British Columbia, but most live in the twin border towns of Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Ariz.

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On the Net: The Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter
 
DallasNews.com
Originally published August 6, 2009
 
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