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Thursday, March 28, 2024 | Back issues
Courthouse News Service Courthouse News Service

No Constipation Relief for Oklahoma City Bomber

(CN) - Oklahoma City bombing conspirator Terry L. Nichols lost the first round in his bid for better prison food. A federal judge in Denver denied his request for an injunction forcing prison staff to feed him a wholegrain diet that won't exacerbate his chronic constipation and hemorrhoids.

Nichols sued the government and officials of the federal prison in Florence, Co., where he's incarcerated, for allegedly giving him "dead and refined foods daily, causing an ongoing daily depravation of insoluble fiber and other nutrients in Plaintiff's diet."

Nichols said this triggered "serious chronic medical issues," including hemorrhoids and constipation, which he's been suffering from for 30 years.

U.S. District Judge Zita Weinshienk called the allegations "conclusory and vague," and said Nichols failed to show he faces immediate and irreparable injury.

The judge noted that Nichols has been in jail for four years. "Mr. Nichols, nonetheless, waited over four years to present the diet issue to this Court and to request a preliminary injunction," Weinshienk wrote.

"Therefore, nothing in the motion for preliminary injunction indicates Mr. Nichols is facing immediate and irreparable harm," the judge added.

Nichols is serving a life sentence for his role in the 1995 courthouse bombing that killed 168 people. His co-conspirator, Timothy McVeigh, was convicted of murder and executed.

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