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Too Tall for Jail?
A Dutch lawyer is attempting to get his
client out of jail with an unusual argument: he's too tall for his cell.
"He is a giant of a man, there's no way you cannot realize that as soon as you
see him," said Bas Martens in a telephone interview Friday.
Martens said his client, 2.07 meters (about 6 feet 10 inches) tall and weighing
230 kilograms (500 pounds), is in a 10 square meter (12 sq. yard) cell.
The prisoner, identified under Dutch privacy laws as Angelo M., began serving an
18-month sentence for financial fraud in September.
Martens sought a court order at a hearing Thursday for Angelo to serve out his
sentence under electronically monitored house arrest.
He said the prison facilities - Angelo's bed and the low toilet in his cell -
are too small and so painful that his conditions violate European human rights
law.
"He's not trying to escape his punishment: he suffers pain every day," Martens
said.
Representatives of the prison in Krimpen aan de IJssel, in the country's
southwest, could not immediately comment.
Martens said they argued in court that the prison adheres to national standards
and they had made efforts to accommodate Angelo's needs.
But Martens said measures such as extending his bed with a piece of wood and
giving him an extra mattress weren't good enough |
