WASHINGTON – A man who stormed the U.S. Capitol while wearing face paint, no shirt and a fur hat with horns was moved to a jail in Virginia on Thursday after a federal judge ordered authorities to provide him with organic food while in custody.
Jacob Chansley was transferred to the detention center in Alexandria after his lawyer argued that his client had gone nine days without eating because organic food was not served in the Washington jail. A judge ordered correctional officers to provide the special diet.
Chansley has lost 20 pounds since being transferred from Arizona to Washington last week, his lawyer, Albert Watkins, told the judge. Chansley, who calls himself the ‘QAnon Shaman’, sees eating organic food as part of his ‘shamanistic belief system and way of life’, the lawyer said.
U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth said Thursday the U.S. Marshals service told the court that the Columbia District Department of Corrections had asked Chansley to be moved because they did not order the court to give him organic food. , can not comply.
The judge said prison officials in nearby Alexandria could accommodate the special diet.
Chansley was charged with civil disorder, obstruction, disorderly conduct and other charges for his role in the January 6 riot at the Capitol. He was among a group of hundreds of Trump supporters who had previously surpassed police officers and stormed the Capitol. when Congress convened to vote to confirm the victory of Joe Biden.
Chansley told investigators he came to the Capitol “at the request of the president that all” patriots “should come to DC on January 6,” according to court records.
The FBI identified Chansley from images taken during the riot that showed his distinctive tattoos. Chansley was inside the Capitol and on the Senate, while carrying an American flag on a pole with a spear. Authorities said he also wrote a threatening letter to then-Vice President Mike Pence.