JUNEAU, Wis. -- A judge said that prison officials can continue force-feeding an inmate who has been on a hunger strike almost four years and for the past year has stopped wearing clothing as a way of rejecting anything to do with the state Department of Corrections.

Dodge County Circuit Judge Andrew Bissonnette held that the DOC can force-feed Warren Lilly Jr. for the next six months, except for Sundays when he can only be force-fed on his request.

The 57-year-old Lilly, of Milwaukee, was sentenced in 2003 to 10 years in prison and five years extended supervision on a charge of substantial battery while using a dangerous weapon in an attack on his wife in 2002.

He started the fast in February 2004 and has been suing the state constantly ever since in an effort to end the force-feeding. He indicated he'll appeal the judge's decision.

The judge said that the Appeals Court should take a common sense approach.

He noted that without the forced nutrition and hydration, Lilly would have died long ago, so it's the care that he receives that's kept him alive to complain about how he's treated.