Malnourished Jeffs Takes Second Trip To Hospital
 
ePress
Tri-State News Network
 
KINGMAN - The leader of a polygamous sect headquartered along the border of northern Arizona and southern Utah was rushed from the Mohave County jail to Kingman Regional Medical Center (KRMC) Thursday. Jail commander Bruce Brown said self- imposed sporadic intake of food and fluids left Warren Jeffs, 52, in a lethargic, weak and frail state.

"He should weigh no less than 160 lbs based on national standards for his height," Jail Commander Bruce Brown, said of Jeffs. "As of yesterday, he was down to 144 lbs."

Brown said paramedics arriving at the jail administered intravenous fluids during his transport to the hospital. KRMC spokeswoman Jamie Taylor said Jeffs arrived at the emergency room at 5:41 p.m. and was discharged two hours later in stable condition.

Brown said he and the jail physician had become increasingly concerned about Jeffs' health and weight loss and had been monitoring his consumption of food and liquid since September 11. "Over the last seven day period there was a progressive weight loss that did run up a red flag for the jail physician," Brown said.

Brown said dehydration, malnourishment and associated lethargy also explain Jeffs' trip to KRMC in July. He said Jeffs was tested for an undisclosed abnormality and flown to Las Vegas for further testing at Sunrise Hospital before he was returned to jail in Kingman.

Brown said both excursions were expensive because of the security convoy deployed to transport the head of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. He said both occasions also caused great disruption at the hospitals.

Brown said jail administrators have asked legal counsel to research pursuit of a court order that will allow staff to essentially force-feed Jeffs whatever nourishment is required to ensure his health and safety.

Jeffs' insistence upon spending hour after hour on his knees in prayer has also been a concern. Brown said that Jeffs did the same thing when incarcerated in Utah and that infection and sores have been a problem.

Brown said Jeffs has rebelled against the restriction that he spend no more than 15 minutes on his knees in prayer three times a day.

"We have had to have staff literally pick him up off his knees and place him on his bed and then use soft restraints on his bed to keep him so he can’t get off his bed," Brown said. "Then he gets checked every 45 minutes to every hour and has to be let up to go to the bathroom or whatever and then he has to go back into restraints."

Jeffs has already been sentenced to prison in Utah for rape-as-an-accomplice for arranging the marriage of a teenager to her adult cousin. He awaits trial in Kingman for four counts of sexual conduct with a minor for his alleged assignment of two underage teens in spiritual unions with their male adult relatives.
 
justsaynews.com
Originally published Monday, September 22, 2008
 
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