A magistrate judge expressed concern that Cole Allen was being treated more harshly than many Capitol riot defendants who also had no criminal history before they entered his courtroom.
WASHINGTON (CN) — A federal judge on Monday slammed the D.C. Department of Corrections for placing the California man arrested at the White House Correspondents’ dinner in “functionally solitary confinement” due to a medical assessment regarding suicide risks.
Cole Tomas Allen, 31, faces up to life in prison if convicted on charges related to his attempted assassination of President Donald Trump at the dinner and the firing of a pump-action shotgun toward a U.S. Secret Service agent on April 25.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Zia Faruqui apologized to Allen for the “functional solitary confinement” he had endured as a defendant — with no criminal history and still presumed innocent — and said the conditions starkly contrasted with the treatment of the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot defendants.
Faruqui said it was the court’s job when recommending detention that it’s not done “in a punitive fashion” and said the conditions described by his attorneys were “extremely disturbing” and would “induce you to be suicidal” more than prevent it.
In an emergency motion filed Saturday, Allen’s attorneys informed the court that the Department of Corrections at the D.C. Jail had placed him on suicide watch despite an initial assessment that Allen did not note any suicide risk factors.
The assessment placed Allen in a “safe cell,” a padded room with 24/7 lighting and lockdown procedures and requires that inmates wear a strait jacket, be strip-searched upon entry and exit and cannot leave except for legal or medical visits.
Allen’s appointed federal defenders, Eugene Ohm and Tezira Abe, filed the motion after corrections officers indicated and then failed to take Allen off suicide watch or precautions by the end of the week.
Ohm argued conditions have restricted Allen’s access to a jail tablet that would allow him to contact family, as well as his ability to review legal documents.
Ohm said Monday that he received the initial assessment form that appeared to clear Allen of any suicide risks when he first met with Allen at the Central Detention Facility, the medium-maximum security facility in Washington. Allen told Ohm he had no access to a telephone, any legal documents or a Bible, which he requested several times.
Further, Ohm said the restrictions limit Allen’s recreational time to one hour a day, and a separation order requires he remain removed from the general prison population, including when he is transported to and from the E. Barrett Prettyman Courthouse for hearings.
Ohm argued Allen was only put under such restrictions due to the high-profile nature of the case, which the Department of Corrections’ policies specifically prohibit as the basis for inmate restrictions. Ohm added that Allen was not contesting his potential placement is restricted housing.
Faruqui pressed Department of Corrections Acting General Counsel Tony Towns to explain how someone without a criminal history was placed on suicide watch and placed in the Central Detention Facility rather than the minimal-medium security Correction Treatment Facility, where many Jan. 6 defendants were housed before trial.
“There seems to be much analogous conduct,” Faruqui said, noting the number of rioters who brought guns to the Capitol with the intent to kill elected officials. “But right now, the way things are playing out is vastly different.”
Towns said Allen’s case was still pending before the housing board, which would make the ultimate decision on his conditions and placement, adding that the decision should be made soon.
Faruqui ordered Towns to provide a purported psychiatric assessment that the department relied on to recommend the restrictions by 9 a.m. Tuesday.
Justice Department Attorney Jocelyn Ballantine highlighted the fact Allen told the FBI after his arrest and indicated in emails to family beforehand that he did not expect to survive the assassination attempt as potentially part of the psychiatrist’s determination.
Faruqui acknowledged those statements but noted Allen seemed to have expected his end to come from Secret Service fire rather than his own.
At a detention hearing Thursday, Allen’s attorneys indicated he agreed to remain incarcerated pending trial.
In a memo supporting pretrial detention, the Justice Department outlined how Allen began planning on April 6, over a month after Trump announced he would attend the event for the first time as president, and reserved a hotel room for April 24 to April 26.
“Had the defendant achieved his intended outcome, he would have brought about one of the darkest days in American history,” prosecutors wrote. “The defendant traveled across the country with the explicit aim to kill the president of the United States. The defendant, armed with a 12-gauge shotgun, a .38 caliber pistol, two knives, four daggers and enough ammunition to take dozens of lives, was apprehended by [Secret Service] officers mere feet away from the ballroom where his primary target was located, along with other members of the Cabinet.”
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