DC district court judge Royce Lamberth decided that accommodations could be made for Chansley because he had received organic food in the Arizona prison, and the arguments about his adherence to shamanism were enough to convince the judge as well.
Chansley has not eaten since last Monday, his lawyer said.
“My client made it clear that although he was not opposed to fasting, he was not in a position to put things into his body that shamanism believes are impure … things that suck the life out of his body,” said Chansley’s lawyer, Al Watkins. in court Wednesday afternoon.
Earlier this month, a federal judge ruled that Chansley, the man seen in photos dressed in horns, a fur cap and face paint inside the United States Capitol during the January 6 riot, would remain in prison pending trial after he the Justice Department portrayed him as a particularly belligerent leader among troublemakers.
Debate on access to organic meals
In court, a person representing Washington’s prison said on Wednesday that it would be difficult to accommodate Chansley, because organic meals were not available through any food contractor hired for the prison. The prison also found no research to show that an organic diet was a principle of shamanism.
The DC prison denied Chansley’s request on Tuesday to eat only organic food after he was transferred to Washington, DC, to face his charges. Prison general counsel Eric Glover found that Chansley was unable to identify a religious need for organic food, the emails between the prison and Chansley’s lawyers show.
Watkins wrote in court and Chansley wrote to prison officials that he had followed the religion of shamans for years, and this shaped his belief that unnatural chemicals would be an intrusion into his body.
“For eight years, Your Honor, I have been eating only this food,” Chansley said in a prison videoconference to the court on Wednesday. He explained the labeling of organic foods to the judge, then talked about a “very delicate chemical balance in my body that affects my serotonin … my appetite, my mood”
Watkins admitted separately in court cases and in emails to CNN that Chansley wants organic food in prison because he has gastrointestinal problems from eating non-organic food that may contain preservatives.
When Watkins tried to raise the issue of organic foods with Judge Lamberth in court last week, the judge told him to argue directly with the prison.
Watkins did not push for Chansley’s release from prison at the hearing on Wednesday, although he had asked for it as part of a “motion for sustenance”. The Justice Department argued that Chansley, who has an online following, should remain in detention.
Last month, a federal judge in Arizona ordered Chansley to stay in prison because he “intended his actions to stop the process of peaceful transition of power” on January 6, it was a danger to the community, he could easily flee because he is virtually unrecognizable without his animal headdress and because the judge did not believe he would follow the court’s orders to face his charges.