BANGOR (AP) – A hearing was expected this week on a lawyer’s motion that it’s unconstitutional to require the feeding of an inmate who’s engaged in a hunger strike at the Penobscot County Jail.

Inmates like James Emerson have a constitutional right to adequate medical care, and they also have a right to turn down care, said Emerson’s lawyer, Dale Thistle.

Emerson, who has lost more than 20 pounds since starting his hunger strike three weeks ago, has told Thistle that he’d rather die than go to prison.

As long as medical personnel say Emerson is competent to make his own decisions, he should be allowed to do so, Thistle said.

Emerson, 23, has been held since April at the jail, where he’s charged with theft, burglary and probation violations. In addition to facing state charges stemming from a burglary on April 27, Emerson also faces a weapons charge in U.S. District Court.

Last week, a court order paved the way for jail officials to force-feed him but all efforts were on hold after a Bangor hospital refused to do so.

Penobscot County Sheriff Glenn Ross said he has a responsibility to make sure Emerson eats because he’s responsible for the well-being of inmates.

Bruce Mallonee, an attorney representing Ross, said that intervening in a hunger strike is no different from stopping an inmate from hanging himself.

“They have an obligation to prevent prisoners from committing slow-motion suicide,” said Mallonee,” Malonee said.

The case would have implications beyond Penobscot County because there appears to be no precedent on force-feeding in Maine, the lawyers said.

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