State Wants Inmate To Stop Using Air Mattress
KINGSLEY, Mich. (AP) - Should a federal judge decide how a prisoner sleeps?
The Michigan Department of Corrections is fighting a decision that allows an inmate to sleep on an air mattress. A judge stepped in after Richard Boone had threatened to kill himself if he didn't get the bed.
The 45-year-old Boone is in a prison near Traverse City. He's had his right hip replaced and major surgery on his other leg. Boone's doctor at the University of Michigan says an air mattress eases pain.
But prison officials took the convicted robber's special mattress away in 2012, saying it was no longer needed. Detroit federal Judge Arthur Tarnow intervened last December and reinstated the bed.
The state says Tarnow shouldn't meddle. Now it's up to an appeals court, which heard arguments Tuesday.
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