A federal judge placed top officials in the U.S. Department of Corrections in contempt Wednesday after ruling they violated the civil rights of a prisoner.
District Judge Royce Lamberth said the violation came when Washington’s Department of Corrections Director Quincy Booth and Warden Wanda Patten refused to provide medical papers for Christopher Worrell, an accused Jan. 6 rioter. Worrell broke his hand in May, and a surgeon recommended in June he get surgery, medical treatment that he reportedly still has not received.
“It is more than just inept and bureaucratic shuffling of papers,” Lamberth said, according to multiple outlets. “I find that the civil rights of the defendant have been abridged. I don’t know if it’s because he is a Jan. 6 defendant or not, but I find that this matter should be referred to the attorney general of the United States … for a civil rights investigation.”
WHITE HOUSE: BIDEN WAIVES EXECUTIVE PRIVILEGE ON JAN. 6 DOCUMENTS
Lamberth had previously threatened to place the officials in contempt after they refused to give the paperwork to the U.S. Marshals.
Booth and Patten filed an argument against the contempt on Wednesday, stating that they complied with Friday’s order to insert the surgeon’s notes into the medical file and sent it to the U.S. Marshals. They said they did so on Tuesday, one business day after the request came in.
“Any noncompliance is now remedied,” the document said.
Worrell is facing six charges tied to the Jan. 6 storming of the U.S. Capitol, including counts of civil disorder and physical violence in the Capitol grounds or buildings, among others. He has pleaded not guilty to all counts.
The conditions for those taken prisoner following the Jan. 6 riot have been called into question. Many of the detainees have been held in solitary confinement, an arrangement that has drawn bipartisan criticism from political figures such as Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Lindsey Graham.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
Federal officials have arrested more than 500 people in connection to the Jan. 6 siege, hundreds of whom now face criminal charges, according to the Justice Department.
Representatives for Washington’s Department of Corrections did not immediately respond to the Washington Examiner‘s request for comment.
