A federal judge Monday criticized the restrictive treatment in prison of the alleged White House Correspondents Association gunman and apologized to him for being placed in restraints and confinement by jail personnel.
The judge also promised Cole Allen, 31, that he would try to get him a cell with a window and a Bible.
Magistrate Judge Zia Faruqui addressed Mr. Allen directly in a court hearing, telling him, “Mr. Allen, I’m sorry that things have not been the way they are supposed to. The jail is going to let me know by [Tuesday] about what’s going on with your housing situation. We should be able to get you into the medium portion of the jail, with windows.”
The judge told prosecutors during the hearing in U.S. District Court in Washington, “I can tell you I have never had a Jan. 6 defendant who was put in five-point restraints or a safe cell.”
Mr. Allen was taken into federal custody last week when he tried to breach the association dinner ballroom at the Washington Hilton to kill President Trump and other senior-level government officials, prosecutors say.
The alleged gunman was placed on suicide watch when he was first imprisoned in the D.C. jail. Suicide watch protocols require that Mr. Allen remain on a 24-hour lockdown in a “safe cell” and have no access to a phone to call or receive visits from anyone other than his legal team, according to the defense motion.
His lawyers also want him to get a tablet to assist in his legal defense. Additionally, he was allegedly denied a copy of the Bible.
Prosecutor Jocelyn Ballantine told Judge Faruqui that because Mr. Allen told investigators he did not expect to survive the alleged attack, he could be a danger to himself.
However, Judge Faruqui was not persuaded by that argument and compared Mr. Allen to defendants arrested for rioting at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
“To me, it’s extremely disturbing that he was put in five-point restraints, a person with no criminal history,” Judge Faruqui said, noting that Mr. Allen is presumed innocent. “It’s troubling. If the only way to keep him safe is the most punitive thing, that’s a problem.”
The judge also said that Jan. 6 defendants were only housed in a Correctional Treatment Facility, a less confined area of prison housing.
“What am I to say to Allen that this is going to be a fair process if we’re putting him in a safe cell when he’s not supposed to be in there?” the judge said. “At a minimum, I should be apologizing to him. We are obligated to make sure he’s taken care of.”
He then advised Mr. Allen, “Legal visits, ask for legal visits, do not accept that these things are acceptable.”
The judge added, “We will get you the Bible. If we can get someone vegan food, we can get you a Bible, we can make sure you’re not in five-point restraints.”
Mr. Allen’s lawyers had asked for the hearing but then tried to cancel it, saying he had been removed from suicide watch in jail. The judge went ahead with the hearing anyway.
The judge ordered prosecutors to send him an email by Tuesday morning informing him when a final decision on where Mr. Allen will be detained.
Judge Faruqui has been serving as a U.S. Magistrate Judge for the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia since September 2020.
Prior to his appointment, he was a federal prosecutor, first in the U. S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Missouri and then in the District of Columbia.
