HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) _ The state Appellate Court has rejected an appeal by a prison inmate who went on a hunger strike, ended up being force-fed under court orders and then claimed he was being abused and tortured in custody.

The court on Monday upheld a lower court judge’s dismissal of William Coleman’s habeas corpus appeal.

Coleman sought through his appeal to be free of what he called “further abuse and torture.” He said the force-feeding that began in 2008 and other detention conditions violate the federal and state constitutions and world human rights and liberty laws.

The state Supreme Court upheld the force-feeding of Coleman last March. A prisons spokesman declined to comment Monday on whether Coleman is still on a hunger strike.

Coleman’s eight-year sentence for sexual assault ends in December.

(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press.  All Rights Reserved.)