‘They’re Running a Jail, Not a Hotel’: Judge Has Had It With Capitol Rioters Alleging Mistreatment

AP

Capitol riot defendants have been complaining about the conditions in the Washington, D.C., jail where they’re being held. One judge isn’t having it. “They’re running a jail, not a hotel,” Judge Emmitt Sullivan said in a hearing on Wednesday. “Some people want hotel services.”

Some judges have been noting that they’re working with the D.C. jail to improve conditions, according to CNN, but Sullivan alleged many of the claims should be directed toward the jail, not brought up in court.

One such case is that of Christopher Worrell, a member of the Proud Boys who is claiming mistreatment. The Department of Justice said in a court filing on Wednesday he has “invented” many of his medical needs.

Although a judge ruled earlier this month that the D.C. Department of Corrections violated Worrell’s rights when they limited his access to necessary medical care, prosecutors said the filing that Worrell’s allegations of poor treatment have “repeatedly been contradicted or unsubstantiated by the medical records” of the doctors who have seen him.

Worrell, who traveled to D.C. with his girlfriend, has been accused of breaking into the Capitol building and using pepper spray to assault federal officers. In a filing, the DOJ included a Jan. 6 photo of Worrell taken at the Capitol where he is using what appears to be pepper spray. The Proud Boys are classified as a “hate group,” according to the Southern Poverty Law Center.

“The government has repeatedly been unable to sort fact from fiction in reviewing Mr. Worrell’s many claims of medical mistreatment because those claims have often been refuted, or at best unsubstantiated, by the medical notes and records that the government later obtains,” prosecutors wrote in the filing.

Worrell’s most recent medical claim is that he needs surgery for a broken finger, which he broke when he fell in his cell. According to prosecutors, Worrell’s fractured pinky finger was treated with a “closed reduction” and a splint, which they say Worrell removed himself. The finger has since healed, they claim, and according to Worrell’s own statements, prosecutors said, he requested surgery because he was “primarily dissatisfied with the appearance of his pinky finger.” But when his surgery was then scheduled for October 20th, Worrell refused and asked for a “second opinion.”

According to the government, Worrell has a “history of misrepresentations” when it comes to his medical care. He said in March while in a Charlotte County, N.C., jail that corrections staff had denied him “necessary cancer medication.” He claimed he had been taking the medications while undergoing chemotherapy and radiation and said his condition was “rapidly deteriorating.”

But, the government wrote that the meds Worrell demanded were not prescribed by his oncologist and were “not indicated” for treating his cancer. Jail staff also told the government Worrell’s condition was stable, and his medical records showed that although he was advised to start chemotherapy and radiation in August 2020 “but had declined.” Doctors ruled Worrell’s condition as “stable,” although they acknowledged it is a “dangerous underlying condition.”