It has been 3 months since the January 6th riots and one of the men awaiting trial on charges related to the riot has claimed that he was beaten to a “bloody pulp” by a prison guard — an attack that has caused him to suffer ongoing seizures. Others arrested following the attack on the Capitol have reported being limited to their cells for 23 hours a day in solitary confinement even though they have not been convicted of any crime.
Ryan Samsel, who has been charged with “assaulting a police officer at the Capitol on Jan. 6,” has come forward to allege the abuse he has suffered from “two guards at the D.C. jail.” His complaint to the court was that these two guards “beat him last month, breaking his nose, dislocating his jaw and leaving him suffering seizures.”
“This is unjustified, and the way that these guys are being treated is completely unreasonable, it’s wholly unconstitutional,” his attorney said in an interview. “It doesn’t matter what these guys are being charged with. All of these guys are still pretrial detention; they have not been convicted of any crimes. And this is what they’ve been forced to endure.”
“According to Metcalf, the incident, as related to him by his client, began the afternoon of March 20 when Samsel complained that the guards had taken hours to get him toilet paper,” the Post continued. “An argument ensued. That evening, according to Metcalf, Samsel was moved to another cell. Around midnight, the lawyer said, two guards came to that cell, restrained Samsel’s arms behind his back with zip-tie handcuffs, and ‘beat him to a bloody pulp.’”
This brutal attack rendered Samsel unconscious until the following day. Samsel has reported having suffered seizures ever since.
As it turns out, this hasn’t been the first complaint about mistreatment for the defendants awaiting trial for their alleged actions during the January 6th riot.
“For weeks, Capitol riot defendants being held in Washington have complained that they are locked in their cells with virtually no human contact for 23 hours a day,” Politico reported.
Additionally, at least one defendant has complained about being subject to “violence, threats, and verbal harassment” while in custody.
“Myself and others involved in the Jan. 6 incident are scared for their lives, not from each other but from correctional officers,” one defendant, Ronald Sandlin, who is accused of smoking marijuana on Capitol grounds and of “tussling with multiple U.S. Capitol Police officers guarding the Senate chamber and trying to rip the helmet off of one of them,” told a judge during his bail hearing. “I don’t understand how this is remotely acceptable.” Sandlin called his treatment at the hands of DC prison guards, “mental torture.”
DC Corrections says the 23-hour isolation is typical for prison inmates.
