The Trump administration is giving a defense-related boost to a contentious pipeline in the Northeast U.S. The Energy Department said Monday that it would give up to $42 million from the Defense Production Act for the Constitution Pipeline project that would transport natural gas from Pennsylvania to New York. The pipeline project was scrapped in…

The Department of Justice (DOJ) announced Monday that it will investigate living conditions inside the Washington, D.C. Jail following years of reports of filth, medical neglect, and brutality. 

The D.C. Jail, which holds all pretrial detainees and misdemeanor offenders in the District of Columbia, was the subject of an unflattering 2016 Reason cover story, "How Not to Build a Jail," describing how wretched conditions had persisted there for more than a century. Lawsuits, audits, and media investigations have all documented persistent civil rights problems. The jail gained additional infamy for holding pretrial detainees and convicted defendants who were prosecuted for their role in the January 6, 2021, riot at the Capitol Building. 

The Justice Department received numerous allegations of excessive force, inadequate medical care, unsanitary living conditions, and malnutrition inside the jail, according to a department press release. The investigation will determine if D.C.'s Department of Corrections has a pattern or practice of violating prisoners' constitutional rights.

"The Constitution protects the rights of every incarcerated American, including those held in custody in our nation's capital," Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon said in a DOJ press release. "We are committed to upholding our federal civil rights laws so that no inmate is confined in unconstitutional conditions or subject to unconstitutional mistreatment at the District of Columbia Department of Corrections."

Last week, six current and former D.C. Jail inmates filed a class-action lawsuit alleging they found dead mice and cockroaches in their food.

Five different D.C. Jail inmates filed another lawsuit in September alleging guards failed to stop or adequately respond to a man in the jail's mental health unit from starting an electrical fire.

In 2021, the U.S. Marshals Service transferred roughly 400 inmates out of the D.C. Jail after a surprise inspection reported unacceptable living conditions, including guards withholding water and food from inmates as punishment.

A week before that inspection, a federal judge held the D.C. Department of Corrections in contempt for repeatedly failing to turn over the medical records of a January 6 defendant who had been waiting for months for a scheduled wrist surgery. 

The antiquated jail, opened in the 1970s, has numerous structural problems, but plans to replace it have stalled. In the meantime, the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division will write a report to add to the top of the pile.

The post Justice Department Will Investigate Conditions at D.C. Jail After Years of Reports of Filth and Neglect appeared first on Reason Magazine.

Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.) accused Mike Davis, a close legal ally of the president, of “mobilizing death threats” against her and her staff.  Slotkin wrote on social media Monday that Davis had originally been in the mix to be President Trump’s next attorney general after former Attorney General Pam Bondi left her post but “is…

Interior Secretary Doug Burgum argued a major renovation of East Potomac Park and its public golf courses is a necessary move by the federal government, as President Trump’s plans to redevelop the land face an intensifying legal challenge. “I mean, there are examples of this around the country, famous golf courses, which golfers would know,”…

President Trump said Monday he has not yet agreed to a trilateral meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping, but he said he is open to it. “I would do it,” Trump told reporters on the White House’s South Lawn before heading to a midterm rally in Kansas.  “Not so much…

President Trump said security cameras have been installed at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool and warned possible future vandals they would face jail time. “This will be different, but any Vandals that try to prove the point otherwise, will GO TO JAIL! We are watching very closely, and security cameras have been installed. Reports are…

Kevin Hassett, the director of the National Economic Council (NEC), dismissed recent polling Monday, instead arguing the U.S. economy is “in a boom.” During an interview on CNBC’s “Squawk Box,” Hassett said consumer spending indicates the economy remains strong.  “If economic polls … were correct, then people wouldn’t be taking trips to nice hotels, they…

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Monday again called into question whether the U.S. has continued to share intelligence with the war-torn country a day after he said Washington resumed providing Kyiv with such information to ‌help defend against Russian missile strikes. Zelensky said Russia launched ballistic missiles and drones at Ukraine’s energy infrastructure overnight, with…

Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told senators Ukraine still does not have full access to the critical satellite-based Starshield network or U.S. intelligence sharing amid growing tensions with President Trump. Zelensky provided the update to a bipartisan group of senators on a call hosted by Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.). “Joined Senator…

Mahmoud Khalil, the Columbia University demonstrator who became a flash point in the Trump administration’s crackdown on pro-Palestinian foreign college students, asked the Supreme Court on Monday to take up his case, his lawyers said.  Khalil was jailed for months last year, and he has long asserted his detention was retaliation for his protected speech.  The…

Crackdown marks latest escalation in the Trump justice department’s push to target alleged noncitizen voting

The US Department of Justice has filed criminal charges against 28 green card holders in California accused of fraudulently registering to vote and casting illegal ballots.

The crackdown marks another escalation in the federal government’s ongoing efforts against alleged noncitizen voting, efforts that Democrats and voting rights groups say are part of a strategy by the Trump administration to sow doubt in the results of the upcoming midterm elections.

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© Photograph: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images

© Photograph: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images

© Photograph: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images

The Trump administration is eyeing changes to the structure of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), including less “centralization in Washington, D.C.,” according to two recent memos obtained by The Hill. One, sent out by FEMA Administrator Cameron Hamilton last week, said the agency “must reduce unnecessary centralization in Washington, D.C. and strengthen the roles…

The husband of a soldier killed in an Iranian drone strike in March grilled Vice President Vance on what he called “fundamental failures” that led up to the death of his wife. Appearing on a CBS News town hall with Vance, Joey Amor, the widower of Sgt. 1st Class Nicole Amor, detailed the drone strike…

JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon said in an interview published Monday that the U.S. economy, while performing well, has to fend off “inflationary” events. “The American economy is kind of booming right now. It’s good times,” Dimon told Alan Murray of The Wall Street Journal Leadership Institute. Dimon noted that corporate profits are “way up,”…

Russia wants America and China to decide Ukraine’s future without Kyiv. Europe must challenge this dangerous return to diplomacy of the strong for the strong

Does Vladimir Putin know exactly how to play Donald Trump? The history of chummy phone calls, high-profile meetings and attempts to bring Russia in from the cold certainly suggests that Moscow’s thuggish ruler has a hold on this American president. If Mr Trump agrees to negotiate Ukraine’s future with Mr Putin and China’s Xi Jinping without Ukraine at the table, he will have handed the Russian leader a victory before talks begin. The message will be that strongmen are ruling the world and determining the fate of weaker nations.

Ukraine has the right to determine its future. That right cannot be waved away by a self-serving Russian proposal, however much it indulges Mr Trump’s belief that world affairs should be settled by powerful men. The scales are falling from European eyes. Trumpian America is raising doubts about whether it will help deter aggression or even honour its Nato commitments. If Washington now rewards Moscow and pressures Ukraine to accept a raw deal, it would be a betrayal. European governments would wonder where America might be in the future when their own security is threatened.

Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here.

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© Photograph: José Luis Magaña/AP

© Photograph: José Luis Magaña/AP

© Photograph: José Luis Magaña/AP

A federal judge on Monday pressed the Trump administration about President Trump’s plan to shut down and renovate East Potomac Park next month despite a previous court order barring any future work at the property while a lawsuit to stop it plays out.    Trump in a Truth Social post just minutes before Monday’s hearing…

Poll finds 66% of Americans think Trump is using position for monetary gain as his approval rating hits a new low

Most Americans think Donald Trump is using the presidency to enrich himself, according to a new poll, as the US president’s approval rating falls to a new low ahead of November’s midterm elections.

A new Washington Post-ABC poll put Trump’s approval rating at 33% as he continues to crisscross the country as part of his campaign blitz for embattled Republicans.

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© Photograph: Evan Vucci/Reuters

© Photograph: Evan Vucci/Reuters

© Photograph: Evan Vucci/Reuters

Mike Huckabee’s family is offering trips to Israel so tourists can ‘hear from top officials,’ even though he’s the ambassador. Meanwhile, he’s done little for U.S. victims of Israeli violence.

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The Trump administration has scheduled the first offshore mineral lease sale in U.S. history, opening more than 31 million acres of seabed near American Samoa to companies seeking critical minerals...

Ricardo Gonzalez was injured and taken to hospital after confrontation in Long Beach, according to officials

Federal immigration agents broke the arm of a US citizen in what a Democratic congressman said was a “brutal attack” during a confrontation with protesters in California.

Video of Saturday’s encounter in Long Beach shows Ricardo Gonzalez, identified as a former city employee, handcuffed and face down in a gutter, with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers kneeling on his back.

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© Photograph: Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times/Getty Images

© Photograph: Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times/Getty Images

© Photograph: Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times/Getty Images