Jail Officials Held in Contempt for Treatment of Jan. 6 Defendant

[marble falls]

Jail Officials Held in Contempt for Treatment of Jan. 6 Defendant

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/13/us/politics/jan-6-jail-contempt.html

A federal judge ruled that top officials of Washington, D.C.’s jail had improperly delayed medical treatment for a man being held without bail in connection with the attack on the Capitol.

Lawyers for several other of the roughly 40 Jan. 6 defendants who are in the capital’s jail have raised complaints about mistreatment.
Lawyers for several other of the roughly 40 Jan. 6 defendants who are in the capital’s jail have raised complaints about mistreatment.Credit...Jason Andrew for The New York Times

By Alan Feuer
Oct. 13, 2021Updated 1:25 p.m. ET

-snip-

Calling the delay of treatment for the defendant, Christopher Worrell, “incompetent” and “inexcusable,” Judge Royce C. Lamberth of Federal District Court in Washington said he would also refer the case to the Justice Department for a potential investigation into whether Mr. Worrell’s civil rights — and the rights of other jailed defendants — had been violated.

-snip-

Mr. Worrell, a member of a Florida chapter of the Proud Boys, was denied bail and placed in the jail shortly after his arrest in March on charges of assaulting a police officer and obstructing Congress’s certification of the presidential vote on Jan. 6. He has cancer and is receiving chemotherapy, and after going into custody, he broke his wrist.

He was scheduled for surgery on his wrist in June, Judge Lamberth said at a hearing on Wednesday, but by September, the surgery had not taken place and the judge ordered jail officials to provide him with Mr. Worrell’s medical records so that he could consider issuing a formal order requiring the procedure. The jail officials delayed getting Judge Lamberth the records, prompting his angry outburst from the bench.

-snip-

Lawyers for several other of the roughly 40 Jan. 6 defendants who are in the D.C. jail in lieu of bail have raised complaints about mistreatment. Some have argued that their clients have been denied proper food and access to showers. Others have complained about restrictions on religious services. Jail officials have denied the accusations and said that the Capitol riot defendants are not being singled out for punishment or mistreatment.

-snip-



Judge Lamberth said he didn't know if Worrell’s medical treatment was tied to Jan. 6. He did issue am order to the Justice Department to examine “potential civil rights violations” for all jailed Capitol riot defendants.

I find it amusing that after a taste of what they want for the rest of us has made them interested in prison reform.

[femmedem]

1. Withholding medical treatment as a form of punishment is not cool regardless of the crime.

I don't know which is worse: if this is because of their alleged crimes or if this mistreatment is routine.

[marble falls]

2. I find it absolutely out of line, and totally unacceptable. We treat prisoners like shit ...

... the sad fact is that this is pretty regular treatment and it's been described here on DU countless times. That said: My concern is that these assholes were targeted and if they were, it only sets the stage to get them released.

We need to "act like Caesar's wife" with these criminals and not give them an escape hatch from what is their just desserts legally.

If we're going to cage humans, we have an obligation to take care of them.

[femmedem]

4. +1. n/t

[Solly Mack]

3. They're not interested in prison reform. They'll still dismiss the mistreatment of other people

in all the usual ways.

Abusing those in prison/jail/holding is wrong. Those guilty of it should be held accountable.

If it gives the insurrectionists a get out of jail free card out then the jailers/jail officials doing the abuse are to blame.