Reports of alleged maltreatment of Jan.6 defendants have been numerous.
A federal judge has now held D.C. Corrections officials guilty of contempt for the treatment one defendant received. The case is being referred to the DOJ to conduct a civil rights investigation and report on the treatment of other defendants.
U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth found D.C Jail Warden Wanda Patten, and Quincy Booth (director of D.C. Department of Corrections) in contempt after they failed to submit the medical records required to authorize a necessary operation for Christopher Worrell.
Worrell is suffering from non-Hodgkins lymphoma. He had also broken his hand during custody. The Department of Corrections did not allow Worrell to receive the required medical corrections to enable him to access the records. He was only given Tylenol by his attorney. Apparently, they even blew off the court’s demand that they produce the records, and that’s why Lamberth found them in contempt.
DC jail officials were today held in civil contempt by a judge for refusing to submit medical records to US Marshals regarding Jan. 6 defendant Christopher Worrell. A DOJ referral was made by the DOJ for an inquiry into potential civil rights violations. pic.twitter.com/10dfsU15oF
— Zoe Tillman (@ZoeTillman) October 13, 2021
While Lamberth didn’t impose any contempt sanctions, he did find that the defendant’s civil rights had been abused and made it clear that he thought that this wasn’t just incompetence.
“It is more than just inept and bureaucratic shuffling of papers,” U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth said. He also added:
“I find that the civil rights of the defendant have been abused,” Lamberth, who was appointed by former President Reagan, said at a hearing Wednesday morning, according to The Washington Post. “I don’t know if it’s because he’s a January 6th defendant or not, but I find this matter should be referred to the attorney general of the United States for a civil rights investigation into whether the D.C. Department of Corrections is violating the civil rights of January 6th defendants … in this and maybe other cases.”
Lamberth found additional problems in the treatment and prosecution of defendants.
The judge had separately chastised city officials for cutting down the number of rooms in the jail for virtual court visits and for sending an inmate to his court a few weeks ago when they did not have the results of a coronavirus test, saying the “incompetence of jail officials” led to the prisoner being sent back and forth from court without appearing before the judge.
On Sept. 18, supporters of Washington jailed held a rally to draw attention to the shocking treatment of suspects in Washington.
Now, it’s good that he’s finally put this on the record. This could lead to more positive actions being taken for defendants. Some of them have been denied bail or received questionable treatment. It’s very rarely done, which says something about how bad the judge must have thought the situation had gotten.
As we reported, by comparison with the BLM/Antifa folks the treatment has been far harsher — and that’s a fundamental problem with either case is true: that the folks on the left are getting off easier because of their politics, or the the people on the right are being treated more harshly. Both are true in this instance.
But if the judge puts no sanctions on them, there’s no punishment for this horrible treatment which borders on cruel and unusual punishment, in addition to a denial of Worrell’s civil rights. There’s no great incentive not to continue to keep violating the rights of Worrell or other defendants.
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