A federal judge Thursday denied a request from a Woodstock woman accused in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot to be removed from solitary confinement in the Washington, D.C. jail.
Lisa Marie Eisenhart, 57, had asked Judge Royce Lamberth to move her out of protective custody and into the jail’s general population, calling her 23-hour-a-day isolation cruel and unusual punishment. In a five-page order handed down Thursday, Lamberth said he could not rule on the request because his order detaining Eisenhart and her son, Eric Gavelek Munchel, without bond was under appeal.
“If the Court modified the order, it would present a moving target for the (appeals court),” Lamberth wrote.
Moreover, the judge said he could only modify the terms of her confinement if she could show the decision to hold her away from other prisoners was “irrational.” In filings with the court, the D.C. Department of Corrections said all suspects in the Jan. 6 riot are segregated from the other prisoners for their own safety and to maintain order in the jail.
“Here, the defendant has not established that the Department of Corrections treated her differently from other inmates held for similar offenses,” Lamberth wrote.
Among her other claims, a lawyer for Eisenhart told the judge in a hearing Wednesday that the blanket order segregating Jan. 6 suspects could give the impression of unfair treatment based on their politics. Lamberth did not address that possibility in his order.
Eisenhart and Munchel were arrested last month for their alleged role in the Capitol insurrection. Social media posts and surveillance cameras show the two inside the Captiol, and Munchel earned the nickname “zip-tie guy” from online sleuths who identified him as the man climbing over seats in the Senate gallery carrying plastic wrist restraints in each hand.
Debate over the detention status of suspects in the Capitol is an emerging issue as federal authorities manage the massive investigation. About half of those arrested remain in jail, but some are successfully challenging their bond status.
In the past week, Americus attorney William McCall Calhoun and 18-year-old Milton resident Bruno Cua both successfully challenged their continued detention. Both men were granted release from jail but are under house arrest with GPS monitoring pending their trials.
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