The horned Capitol rioter dubbed the QAnon Shaman will be given organic meals at DC lockup after refusing to eat the standard jail fare for nine days because of his religious beliefs, a judge ordered Wednesday.
The shaman, real name Jacob Chansley, had refused the meals after being transferred to a DC jail run by the city’s Department of Corrections while awaiting trial for his role in the Jan. 6 riot, his lawyer, Al Watkins, said in a court hearing Wednesday afternoon.
Chansley had previously been given organic meals after refusing to eat while in custody of the federal Bureau of Prisons after his arrest in January in his home state of Arizona.
In Wednesday’s hearing, Watkins argued that because Chansley is now in the custody of DOC, it should not negate BOP’s policy of feeding Chansley organic meals, which was ordered by a federal Arizona judge.
“I don’t believe the Department of Corrections has the authority … to say to the Bureau of Prisons, we’re not going to handle your person that way because it doesn’t work for us bureaucratically,” Watkins said.
An attorney for the Department of Corrections argued they had not found a clear indication shamanism dictates eating organic meals — and also said providing organic food would be a logistical nightmare in the jail.
Judge Royce Lamberth agreed Chansley was entitled to the fancy grub because of his religious beliefs.
Chansley was photographed wearing face paint and a horned hat, marauding through the halls of the Capitol building with other followers of then President Donald Trump on Jan 6.
Five people, including a Capitol Police officer, were killed as a mob of Donald Trump supporters stormed the building in an attempt to overturn the 2020 presidential election.