A federal judge overseeing the case of Cole Allen, who is accused of trying to assassinate President Donald Trump and other top officials, issued an apology to the defendant on Monday for his current living conditions.
“I’m sorry,” Magistrate Judge Zia M. Faruqui told Allen, according to USA Today. “Whatever you’ve been through, I apologize for the prior week.”
Allen’s attorneys reportedly stated their client is being kept alone in a cell and has been denied access to a Bible.
Faruqui told the government to provide an update by 9 a.m. ET Tuesday regarding plans for Allen’s detention within the jail in Washington, D.C.
If the jail decides to treat Allen differently from other inmates, Faruqui wants a full explanation as to why.
He highlighted the fact that Allen doesn’t have a criminal record and even compared his detention to prisoners who were held on charges related to the Capitol incursion on Jan. 6, 2021, stating that they were treated better than him.
“This is not the jail’s first go around with people engaged in alleged political violence,” Faruqui declared.
He added, “Pardons may erase convictions, but they do not erase history,” referring to Trump giving Jan. 6 defendants full pardons.
Faruqui made these statements despite reports of Jan. 6 prisoners being held in solitary confinement for 22 to 23 hours a day, suffering physical abuse, being forced to denounce Trump, and being told that “their views are the views of cult members.”
“They have been beaten by the guards. They are called white supremacist. They are denied religious services, haircuts, shaving, the ability to trim their fingernails,” former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Republican from Georgia, said back in 2021.
There was also the tragic suicide of Matthew Perna, 36, a Pennsylvania man who also didn’t have a criminal record. He pleaded guilty in December 2021 to offenses related to the incursion.
Perna, initially charged with misdemeanors, was later hit with federal obstruction charges. He pleaded guilty, expecting six to 12 months in a federal prison camp. Instead, a “terrorism” enhancement was set to be added during his sentencing, which would have sent him away for years.
Distraught by the news, Perna hanged himself in his garage.
Faruqui stated in his order that he has “grave concerns” about Allen’s “seemingly unprompted solitary confinement for days and overall conditions of confinement.”
Part of the reason Allen has been denied certain accommodations was that he was initially on suicide watch, NewsNation reported.
Earlier on Sunday, however, Allen’s defense team said he had been removed from “suicide status.”
If convicted, Allen, 31, could spend the rest of his life behind bars.
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