Warren Jeffs Allegedly in Coma, Near Death After Hunger Strike

HOUSTON (The Blaze/AP) -- Polygamist sect leader Warren Jeffs was hospitalized in critical condition Monday after telling corrections officers he's fasted in the weeks since receiving a life sentence for sexually assaulting underage followers he took as spiritual brides, a prison official said.

The 55-year-old head of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, who has a history of refusing to eat while incarcerated, was stable, Texas Department of Criminal Justice spokeswoman Michelle Lyons told The Associated Press. It was uncertain how long he would be hospitalized.

Jeffs attorney Emily Detoto told the AP her client "hasn't been feeling well" and was taken to East Texas Medical Center in Tyler on Sunday night. She declined to elaborate.

Lyons said Jeffs told corrections officers he's fasted in the time since his conviction earlier this month, though it was not immediately clear how long he'd gone without food before being hospitalized.

During Jeffs' trial, prosecutors used DNA evidence to show he fathered a child with a 15-year-old and played an audio recording of what they said was him sexually assaulting a 12-year-old. Both were among 24 underage wives who prosecutors said Jeffs collected.

Court documents show Jeffs tried to hang himself in January 2007 while awaiting trial on rape charges in Washington County, Utah. He also threw himself against the walls of his cell and banged his head, although he later told a mental health expert he really wasn't trying to kill himself.

During a visit with a brother that same month that was videotaped by jail officials, Jeffs said he'd been fasting for three days and remained awake during the night. Days later, he was taken to a hospital and given medication for depression. The court documents said he'd lost 30 pounds, was dehydrated and suffering from sleep deprivation.

Jeffs also had to be temporarily force-fed in 2009 while in the Kingman, Ariz., jail.

In Texas, Jeffs has been in protective custody, which is among the most restrictive forms of imprisonment in the state. He was to be alone in his cell daily, not be involved in any work programs and to be out of his cell only to shower and for recreation by himself.

Jeffs is among only 85 inmates in the 156,000-prisoner Texas corrections system to be assigned protective custody.

The life sentence was the harshest possible for Jeffs' convictions and he isn't eligible for parole until he is at least 100 years old. He had been in a Huntsville prison immediately after his trial, then was moved last week to the Powledge Unit outside Palestine, about 100 miles southeast of Dallas.

Former church members have said Jeffs likely would continue to lead his Utah-based church from inside prison and that his followers likely still revere him as a prophet despite the considerable evidence presented at his trial showing he sexually assaulted girls as young as 12.

The basic principles of Jeffs' fundamentalist sect are rooted in polygamy, a legacy of early Mormon church teachings that held plural marriage brought exaltation in heaven. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the mainstream Mormon church, abandoned the practice in 1890 as a condition of Utah's statehood and excommunicates members who engage in the practice.

Meanwhile ABC News is reporting that Jeffs is in a coma, according to a source close to him.  However, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice would not confirm the report.