Trish Carter, spokeswoman for the Mohave County Sheriff's Office, said Jeffs was taken to Kingman Regional Medical Center on Thursday around 5:30 p.m. He was treated and returned to the Kingman Jail at 8:15 p.m.

"I know our jail staff goes in there and speaks with him frequently," Carter said. "We just try to keep the dialogue going."

Jail Commander Bruce Brown told Tri-State News Network that Jeffs, 52, should weigh no less than 160 lbs based on his height, but is down to 144 lbs. Brown said Jeffs was given intravenous fluids.

Brown told the news outlet that Jeffs hase been steadily fasting since Sept. 11 and had experienced a rapid weight loss during that period.

This is the third trip to the hospital for Jeffs, leader of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, since he was taken into custody in 2006. In January 2007, while jailed at the Purgatory Correctional Facility in Hurricane, he was taken to Dixie Regional Medical Center after attempting suicide. At that time he also had been fasting regularly and had spent so much time on his knees praying that they became ulcerated.

In July, Jeffs was taken to the local hospital and then flown to Sunrise Hospital in Las Vegas after fasting caused physical difficulties.

Jeffs is awaiting trial in Arizona on charges related to two underage marriages he conducted.

Brown told Tri-State News Network that the jail has asked its attorneys to look into the feasibility of getting a court order that would allow Jeffs to be force-feed as necessary.

He also told the news outlet that the jail has imposed a 15-minute, three times-a-day limit on the amount of time Jeffs can spend on his knees praying. Jeffs' refusal to comply with that rule has led the jail to use soft restraints to restrict him to his bed, Brown told Tri-State News Network.

"We have had to have staff literally pick him up off his knees and place him on his bed and then use soft restraints on his bed to keep him so he can't get off his bed," Brown said. "Then he gets checked every 45 minutes to every hour and has to be let up to go to the bathroom or whatever and then he has to go back into restraints."