The reported hunger strike by inmate David Sweat, who escaped two summers ago from a northern New York prison but 15 years ago also murdered a Broome County Sheriff's deputy, has a state Senator responding thusly: "If he chooses not to eat, so be it."
Sweat was transferred to the Attica Correctional Facility, in Wyoming County, from Five Points Correctional Facility in Seneca County. The New York Post reports that Sweat's request for transfer back to Five Points led to the hunger strike.
In a statement, Binghamton-area state Sen. Fred Akshar said Sweat should absolutely stay put; that Sweat showed no consideration for Deputy Kevin Tarsia. Sweat and another man shot Tarsia the night of July 4, 2002, in a Kirkwood park, before running over his body.
"Let's not forget that Sweat has forever starved the Tarsia family of a life with their beloved son," reads the statement from Akshar, who was undersheriff of Broome County. "He was a menace to society, continues to manipulate the correctional system from behind bars and doesn't deserve an ounce of sympathy or special treatment from the State of New York."
Sweat, along with Richard Matt, escaped from Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora, and for three weeks of June 2015, was on the run. Matt was shot and killed during the search. Sweat was shot by officers and taken back into custody two days later. Akshar said the manhunt cost $23 million.
Officially, the state Department of Corrections and Community Supervision released a one-sentence statement, reiterating it cannot comment on Sweat's medical condition.