Corrections officials today will ask a judge for permission to insert a feeding tube into Esteban Carpio if necessary.

01:00 AM EDT on Wednesday, July 20, 2005

BY GREGORY SMITH
Journal Staff Writer

PROVIDENCE -- Esteban Carpio has been a preoccupation of Rhode Island corrections officials since his arrest in the highly publicized slaying of a police officer.

He has assaulted three correctional officers at the state prison, written in his own blood on the wall of his cell that he has an infectious disease, and banged his head against the walls, according to corrections and law enforcement officials.

He has also torn up his bedding and tried to clog the cell toilet, officials have said.

Now they are troubled by something Carpio is not doing. He is not eating right, officials say, and they want court permission to force-feed him if necessary.

Ann Fortin, acting assistant to the director of corrections, said yesterday that Carpio has not been eating consistently for about a month, that some days he goes without any solid food or liquid, and that he has lost weight.

The Department of Corrections will ask Superior Court Judge Susan E. McGuirl today for an order allowing the department to "take whatever steps are necessary to properly care for Mr. Carpio, to include the insertion of a feeding tube if necessary."

Carpio already was scheduled to be arraigned today in McGuirl's court on four charges, including the slaying of Providence Police Detective Sgt. James L. Allen.

On April 17, Allen was questioning Carpio at police headquarters -- Carpio was a suspect in a stabbing -- when the suspect managed to get a hold of the detective's gun, according to a police account. Carpio allegedly shot him twice and briefly escaped, but he was found on a nearby downtown street and arrested.

At the request of the Corrections Department, and with McGuirl's consent, Carpio will remain at the Adult Correctional Institutions and be arraigned via videoconference. Fortin said that is being done "out of concern for his medical condition and the stress that the whole transport might put on him."

Carpio's lawyer, Kirsten M. Wenge, could not be reached for comment.

Fortin said she does not have specific information about what solid food and liquids Carpio has eaten and in what amounts, and she said she is not free to describe his weight loss.

"Medical staff have been intermittently successful in getting him to accept liquids and, in fact, earlier today our medical program director persuaded Mr. Carpio to ingest some liquids," Fortin said.

Dr. Michael Poshkus, medical director at the ACI, has been treating Carpio personally and trying to induce the prisoner to at least take water and liquid nutrition supplements, according to Fortin.

Carpio, who is being held in an isolation cell at the Adult Intake Center and is under 24-hour observation, has not had to be moved to the infirmary. But the insertion of a feeding tube -- to be inserted through his nose -- would have to be done at a hospital, according to Fortin.

She said that the department wants to have advance authority to use a feeding tube in order to prevent having to scramble for permission if a crisis occurs.

As for what additional care the department wants authorized, short of a feeding tube, Fortin would not say.

Since his last appearance in court, via videoconference on June 20, Carpio has had to be restrained more than once, according to Fortin. Head-banging could prompt officers to place him in restraints, she said, to keep him from hurting himself.

Professionals monitor the state of mind of Carpio, 26, but because of federal privacy laws, Fortin said she is not able to disclose if he has received mental health treatment during his three months in custody. Carpio's friends and family have said that he exhibited signs of mental illness before Allen's slaying.

A grand jury indictment charges Carpio with two counts in connection with the slaying: Murder and discharging a firearm while committing a crime of violence, with death resulting.

He is also charged with assault with a dangerous weapon, with serious bodily injury resulting, and assault on a person over the age of 60.

The latter charges have to do with why Carpio was at police headquarters on April 17. He is charged in the stabbing of 83-year-old Madeline Gatta on Swift Street in the North End. Gatta recovered.

View photos of suspect Esteban Carpio from four previous court appearances, and recap the shooting death of Detective Sgt. James Allen, at:

http://projo.com/extra/2005/detectiveallen/