Judge calls for civil rights probe into jail’s treatment of Jan. 6 detainees
WASHINGTON — A federal judge found the warden of the District of Columbia jail and director of the District Department of Corrections in contempt of court Wednesday and called on the Justice Department to investigate whether the jail is violating the civil rights of dozens of detained Jan. 6 defendants.
U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth of Washington acted after finding that jail officials failed to turn over information needed to approve surgery recommended four months ago for a Jan. 6 Capitol riot defendant’s broken wrist.
The defendant, Christopher Worrell, is an accused Florida Proud Boys member charged with four felonies, including rioting and spraying pepper gel at police at a critical point leading to the initial Capitol breach.
The failure of District officials to turn over medical records is “more than just inept and bureaucratic jostling of papers,” Lamberth said in a hearing, raising the possibility of deliberate mistreatment.
“I find that the civil rights of the defendant have been abused. I don’t know if it’s because he’s a Jan. 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 stopped short of imposing further civil sanctions on jail officials, who belatedly produced the records Tuesday, or ordering the release of inmates. But he suggested that the U.S. Marshals Service may have to move inmates from the District jail to other detention facilities if they are being treated improperly.
A Justice Department spokeswoman confirmed receipt of the referral Wednesday and declined to comment further.
The case spotlights spiraling frustration among U.S. judges over conditions at the long-troubled District jail, specifically the effect of pandemic restrictions and crippling staff shortages at the facility, which houses 1,500 federal and local detainees.
Conditions at the 45-year-old facility have long been criticized by inmates, lawyers and judges. But the complaints reached new heights this spring after prisoner advocates criticized the prolonged confinement of detainees to stamp out the coronavirus pandemic. For about 400 days, jail officials imposed a 23-houra-day lockdown to enforce social distancing before restrictions were eased during the summer.
Now defense lawyers argue that complaints like Worrell’s related to medical care behind bars are the tip of the iceberg. Several have claimed in court that a lack of computers, a video conference room and jail guards, in addition to continued pandemic measures, threaten some inmates’ constitutional rights to counsel and to view government evidence against them and contribute to their defense.