OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
A federal judge has ordered that a January 6 defendant diagnosed with cancer be released from a D.C. jail after an inspection from U.S. Marshals found the prisoners were living in “deplorable” conditions.
U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth said in a statement that the conditions in the jail were “deplorable” and “beyond belief” and ordered the immediate transfer of defendant Christopher Worrell to a different facility.
He stated that the “court has zero confidence” that the D.C. jail would provide proper treatment and not retaliate against Worrell.
The Marshals inspection discovered the inhumane conditions at the D.C. jail like shutting down water in many cells for multiple days, clogged toilets. They even discovered that an inmate was being pepper-sprayed and unable to take a shower for days, which lead to an infection.
Judge Lamberth made the Marshals report public, which provides horrific details like the DC Department of Corrections staff “antagonizing detainees” and “directing detainees to not cooperate with” the Marshals during their inspection.
“One DOC staffer was observed telling a detainee to ‘stop snitching,’” according to the report.
The report stated that detainees were not getting access to water for days and that there was improper food service with meals “served cold and congealed.”
Last month, Lamberth called on the Department of Justice to conduct a civil rights investigation into the alleged civil rights violations that Jan. 6 defendants suffered under D.C. Jail Warden Wanda Patten and the director of the D.C. Department of Corrections, Quincy Booth.
“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 said at the time.
An attorney representing Worrell said in a statement, “We are pleased with the Court’s Order allowing Mr. Worrell to obtain the life-saving cancer treatments he needs. We are also pleased that over 400 inmates will be transferred to facilities where they will receive proper treatment and care, and not be subjected to the deplorable conditions noted by the United States Marshall’s investigation.”
A significant majority of Republicans believe that liberal activists deserve more blame for the January 6 incident at the U.S. Capitol.
According to a survey from Public Religion Research Institute, 61 percent of Republicans place a lot of responsibility for the incident on liberal activists and Democrats.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats’ January 6 commission is already starting to backfire.
According to an NBC News poll, only 59% say they are concerned about the protest on January 6 at the U.S. Capitol.
However, 40% say they are either just “somewhat concerned” (14 percent) or not concerned at all (26 percent).
A recent poll from Harvard CAPS-Harris Poll survey showed that 58 percent of voters believe her commission is biased towards Democrats.
“Americans want an examination of the riots over the summer and the origins of the virus over investigating Jan. 6th,” co-director of the Harvard CAPS-Harris Poll survey, Mark Penn, said. “The voters reject the Pelosi move to toss Republicans off of the committee and see it now as just a partisan exercise.”