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400lb Felon's Lawsuit Says Rikers' Uniforms Weren't Phat
By
Christopher Robbins
Published Jan 22, 2012
Modified Jan 22, 2012
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Jen Chung / Gothamist
By
Christopher Robbins
Published Jan 22, 2012
Modified Jan 22, 2012
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It's happening with bus seats and airplanes, and inmate attire is no different: America must adapt to suit its most corpulent citizens. But 55-year-old Elias Diaz tells the Post that Rikers Island lacks uniforms big enough to contain his 400-pound frame and he's suing the Department of Corrections for $1 million for having to wash his same outfit every day in the shower. How much does the DOC regret rejecting that contract with Jnco?
Diaz, a felon whose record stretches back to a 1975 attempted robbery charge, was arrested last May after threatening a woman with a firearm. He claims in the lawsuit that jail officials made no attempt to provide him with proper clothing, and that clothing his friends sent him were kicked back.
The lawsuit alleges that Diaz will need at least $500,000 worth of therapy to overcome his ordeal. "I wake up still thinking I'm in jail and washing and washing and never feeling like I can wash enough," Diaz told the paper last week. "I never felt clean in there. And I cannot feel clean now no matter what I do." Better tack on another $500,000 for Post-headline-induced therapy: "Big-house fatshunista suing over lil' jail garb."
Tagged
crime
department of corrections
fashion crimes
fat people
jail
obesity epidemic
Rikers Island
Christopher Robbins
Christopher Robbins is a New York City reporter covering transportation, affordable housing, local politics, and criminal justice. His work has also appeared in New York Magazine, The Village Voice and The New York Times. Chris is a graduate of Patrick Henry High School in Roanoke, Virginia, and enjoys biking to Fort Tilden in the summertime.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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