January 6 inmates endure ‘human rights violations on a daily basis,’ bail motion alleges

If the late Jeffrey Epstein's alleged partner in sex trafficking can be granted a laptop 13 hours a day to actively participate in her defense, why not January 6 defendants?

The jailhouse accommodation for Ghislaine Maxwell is the most prominent example cited in a bail application for alleged Capitol rioter Dominic Pezzola, submitted to D.C. federal court Friday.

The 43-year-old veteran, now incarcerated in D.C. jail for 150 days, has been effectively shut out of his own defense in violation of constitutional guarantees specifically for defendants, not just their counsel, the filing says.

Not only is Pezzola unable to "adequately" view the voluminous text, audio and video evidence held by the prosecution, but like all other January 6 defendants housed a short drive from the U.S. Capitol, his right to attorney-client privilege is functionally meaningless, his lawyers Marty Tankleff and Steven Metcalf argue.

They raised similar objections about lack of privacy and access to evidence to Just the News two months ago, following brief outrage from Democratic and Republican lawmakers about Department of Corrections policies for January 6 defendants and other D.C. jail inmates.

Pezzola has "literally been in his cell for 22 or 23 hours a day," the filing says. "It is impossible to have a free-flowing conversation" with their client in these "open cages where there is no confidentiality [and] everyone can hear the conversations[,] including prison guards."

D.C. jail evidence-review policies also have "the potential to invade attorney-client privilege" and the practical effect of punishing inmates, by putting them in "restrictive housing" for two weeks at a time to privately review CDs and DVDs of evidence on jail-provided laptops.

The lawyers suggested they will seek a new trial or dismissal if these conditions aren't reversed, citing legal precedents that punish a prosecution for "knowingly arrang[ing] or permit[ing] intrusion into the attorney-client relationship."

They cited a recent scandal in New York City, where their law practice is based, involving the accidental recording of at least 1,500 attorney-client phone calls by a prison telecom contractor. District attorneys for all five boroughs received the recordings.