Earlier this year we raised the question of how the justice system will deal with the obesity epidemic.

We just got what might be our first test case.

Michel Lapointe, aka Big Mike, got early release last Tuesday because he couldn’t fit in any of the furniture in his cell.  To make things worse, or better in the case of Mike, two other facilities refused to receive him.

Although he received a five-year sentence for conspiracy, drug trafficking and gangsterism, the authorities told him,

You have been detained for more than 25 months and your prison conditions are difficult because of your health.

He will be required to follow some conditions, including finding a job, staying away from bars and checking in with a parole officer.

Should prisoners get early release simply because facilities have failed to consider accommodation of different body types?

Is early release an adequate exemption from their duty to provide an equitable system to rehabilitate criminals?