A federal judge on Wednesday found D.C. corrections officials in contempt over the treatment of a Jan. 6 defendant and referred the matter to the Department of Justice for a civil rights investigation into whether other Capitol riot defendants are facing similar conditions.
U.S. District Court Judge Royce Lamberth said he would not issue contempt sanctions against D.C. Jail Warden Wanda Patten and Quincy Booth, the director of the D.C. Department of Corrections, after a long delay in turning over medical records related to a defendant’s injury that required surgery.
Lamberth had found that the officials did not turn over records that were needed to approve the operation for defendant Christopher Worrell, a Proud Boys member charged with four felonies over the Jan. 6 riot.
“I find that the civil rights of the defendant have been abused,” Lamberth, who was appointed by former President Reagan, said at a hearing Wednesday morning, according to The Washington Post. “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.”