No matter what you think happened on Capitol Hill on Jan. 6, there is no denying that it has been a gift, politically speaking, to the establishment left.
It bolstered leftists’ longstanding claims that the nation is filled with white supremacist terrorists just chomping at the bit to bring back the lynch mob and impose the vague form of fascism that anyone even remotely right-leaning is so often accused of supporting.
What is truly terrifying about those who stand accused of participating in the Capitol incursion, however, is the way they’re being treated.
There have been multiple reports of mistreatment and civil rights violations among the Jan. 6 defendants awaiting trial, none of whom, by the way, are facing charges of treason or sedition.
These are serious accusations — as they would be if we were talking about antifa insurgents or Black Lives Matter protesters, as well.
Thankfully, it appears a federal judge agrees.
U.S. District Judge Royce C. Lamberth found Washington, D.C., jail officials to be in contempt of court this week over their treatment of a Jan. 6 defendant and has called on the Department of Justice to investigate whether the rights of other incursion suspects are being violated.
The director and warden of the D.C. Department of Corrections, Quincy Booth and Wanda Patten, respectively, failed to see that defendant Christopher Worrell received necessary medical treatment, The Washington Post reported.
Worrell faces four felony charges, including rioting and spraying pepper gel at law enforcement officers during the Capitol incursion.
He was arrested in March and has been held at the D.C. facility without bail. After breaking his wrist in May, it was recommended that he receive surgery, which has yet to happen thanks to the officials’ neglect.
During a hearing, Lamberth said this failure was “more than just inept and bureaucratic jostling of papers,” suggesting that it could have even been 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. 6 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 Jan. 6 defendants,” he said.
This is a disturbing example of what many fear could happen to our justice system if we are not careful.
For months, attorneys representing Jan. 6 defendants have been crying foul about how their clients are being treated. The allegations sound like they’re right out of the third world and include lack of access to clean water, lengthy periods of time in solitary confinement, and limited legal counsel.
By many accounts, the alleged rioters are being treated like political prisoners in a corrupt, illiberal system — and, sadly, I’m sure many would agree that that is essentially what they are.
However, the Post pointed out that the D.C. Department of Corrections has been accused of creating inhumane conditions before and not-so-subtly implied that it’s only now receiving any attention because the Jan. 6 defendants are white and conservative.
“Some veteran defense lawyers privately noted that complaints raised on behalf of mostly White and conservative Jan. 6 defendants [appear] to have won more traction from some political quarters than abuse claims brought by poorer Black and Hispanic defendants who make up the bulk of the jail population,” the outlet reported.
This is an interesting angle from the Post, considering it’s not exactly uncommon in today’s political climate for lawmakers and pundits to draw attention to all manner of alleged civil rights violations, particularly against minorities.
Of course, the left’s leveraging of such grievances for political purposes is not always proportionate to the actual wrongdoing, so we can take the claim at face value.
If the Jan. 6 defendants are not being singled out and this facility really is so atrocious, well, then it’s a good thing that their cases are bringing attention to gross and widespread civil rights abuses, right? Certainly.
Yet what is unique in the case of these supposedly privileged defendants is that their crime, which has been characterized by the establishment as a carefully coordinated and treasonous affair, seems to have had a suspicious degree of FBI involvement.
No matter how you look at it, the way the Jan. 6 defendants are being treated reeks of swamp corruption. We need to fight for a justice system that defends the rights of even the most politically polarizing prisoner.
Let’s sincerely hope that, no matter who is being mistreated in this D.C. prison, this incident will rip the mask off the people responsible.