DC Prison Fraud
The Washington, DC prison system is holding onto the January 6 defendants for personal agenda. In its most recent abuse, the DC prison moved the January 6 detainees from the Central Detention Facility to the Correctional Treatment Facility. Note that one word difference: “detention” vs. “treatment.” This was done immediately upon the US Marshals Service arrival for an “unannounced inspection” of both facilities during the week of October 18.
How do I know this?
Because I brought you relevant Facebook live x 2 on October 14 and October 19 and I updated and uploaded my Oath Keeper defendant tracking sheet on October 19. On October 18, as part of those activities, I personally called the prisoner locator telephone number at the Washington DC prisons (202) 523-7060 to gain the addresses of Kenneth Harrelson, Kelly Meggs, and Jessica Watkins. I then asked you to write cards to them. Those addresses are on my October 19 case tracker.
The operator with whom I spoke at the prison gave me the address of the Central Detention Facility for Harrelson and Meggs, as opposed to the Correctional Treatment Facility for Watkins.
On November 2, 2021, in a written press release, the US Marshals Service wrote that, basis its findings on site, it is removing 400 prisoners from the Central Detention Facility for transfer to prison in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania.
I went to bed last night feeling the relief that for all but Watkins, the transfer would, at least, get the bulk of those with pre-trial incarceration out of the hell hole of the Washington, D.C. prison.
I woke up this morning to write this blog and confusion hit me as I reread the US Marshals Service press release. Here is the critical sentence, buried three-quarters of the way down the page in the midst of a paragraph:
“CTF [Correctional Treatment Facility] houses approximately 120 detainees in the custody of the USMS, including all the defendants in pre-trial custody related to alleged offenses stemming from events that took place on January 6 at the U.S. Capitol, as well as other federal detainees. Housing assignments for detainees are determined by the DC DOC.” (emphasis added)
DC prison moved the January 6 defendants from the Central Detention Facility to the Correctional Treatment Facility – in anticipation of the investigation called for on October 13, 2021 by D.C. District Court Judge Royce Lamberth in the case of Christopher Worrell.
The US Marshals Service operates under the direction of the US Department of Justice, which is under the US Attorney General, which is under the President. The US DOJ is charging and prosecuting all January 6 defendants. Just to be clear on the line of responsibilities and direction.
Judge Lamberth modified Worrell’s conditions pre-trial on November 3 to personal supervision by a third party, and other standard limitations. Worrell, diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma prior to his arrest on March 12, had not been receiving treatment for cancer or other injuries sustained while in prison. I was not on the in-court (oral) ruling, but one reporter quotes Judge Lamberth as saying he has “zero confidence” that the DC prison will adequately provide medical care for Worrell. Worrell is no longer in a prison facility while awaiting trial.
Worrell is the one defendant over which Judge Lamberth has jurisdiction to issue this ruling.
It is now up to the approximately 35 other defense attorneys to band together to motion their respective judges to expose the DC prison fraud and the abuse the defendants are being inflicted to win modifications of release for their clients, too.
I am uploading to my website “Publications” page the relevant documents from Christopher Worrell’s case, including the US Marshals Service “Memorandum” (dated November 1, 2021) and press release (dated November 2, 2021), the “Notice of Update Regarding Referral to Civil Rights Division” by the DOJ attorney William Dreher in Seattle, Washington, the “Order” and the “Order Setting Conditions of Release” for Worrell (Lamberth, J., November 4, 2021). To do this, I am creating a new sub-page under Publications titled “Resources.”
Be ready to read the US Marshals Service “Memorandum” (dated November 1, 2021). It’s only two pages, but it is gruesome. Among the findings, that water in many cells were shut off for days, inhibiting detainees from drinking water, washing hands, or flushing toilets and that the DC prison staff “confirmed to inspectors that water to cells is routinely shut off for punitive reasons.”
What concerns me more are the following findings, including that the findings are “systemic:”
DOC staff were observed antagonizing detainees.
Several DOC staff were observed directing detainees to not cooperate with USMS inspectors. One DOC staffer was observed telling a detainee to “stop snitching.”
Supervisors appeared unaware or uninterested in any of these issues.
The January 6 defendants brought light to DC prison conditions that had been languishing for years. Other groups, other politicians, and other individuals are already invested in bringing change on behalf of that prison population – and, sadly, even they have turned ugly against the January 6 defendants and Congressmen Taylor-Greene and Gohmert. Really ugly. Completely missing the point that this is a government-people issue, not a political issue. It is an opportunity to unite, not an excuse to further divide. How I cringe when people turn suffering into a contest and a competition for donor dollars.
Among the other subtle cues that cause me concern? Although Judges Howell and Sullivan of D.C. District Court are copied on the “Memorandum,” note that Judge Lamberth is not. It was his Order of October 13 that launched the “investigation.” Disrespect by DOJ’s US Marshals Serivce of this distinguished judge is what is signaled.
Curiously missing? There is not a single line in any of these documents that references moving the January 6 defendants from Central Detention Facility to the Correctional Treatment Facility.
Later this morning, I will call the same phone number (202) 523-7060 to ask for the current mailing address of Harrelson and Meggs. I’ll do an update here. I’m also planning a Facebook live for early next week.
In the meantime, please call these two Congressional Representatives to ask them to continue their spotlight on and investigation into the prison conditions of the January 6 defendants:
Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene: (202) 225-5211
Congressman Louis Gohmert: (202) 225-3035
The press and activists making the very same arguments about other prisoners at the same facilities is just - ugly. Let’s make sure some positive support reaches their ears, as well as this other nonsense. This topic – which loops back across twenty years to Guantanamo Bay and to Abu Ghriab – is going to need a much deeper conversation and is going to need reform. I’ve been saying it for twenty years and I’m going to continue to say it. Right now, we have the opportunity to correct conditions for at least this group of U.S. citizens on U.S. soil in U.S. prisons.
#MakeTheCall
