Capitol riot: Champaign County woman walks back Secret Service connection before hearing

The federal public defender’s office attorney also said in the Monday filing that the Butler County Jail disputes the defense team’s description of the conditions Watkins was incarcerated during her stay before being transferred to a D.C. area jail.

In a motion filed over the weekend seeking Watkins’ release from jail pending trial, the defense team alleged that Watkins was mistreated.

“She had a documented injury to her arm, but it went untreated,” according to the court document filed over the weekend. “She went on a hunger strike to get medical attention, but instead of medical attention, she was striped naked and put on suicide watch. Ms. Watkins was left naked in a cell with lights on 24 hours a day for four days in full view of everyone else.”

In the Monday filing, the attorneys said the Butler County Sheriff’s Office had been in contact.

“Counsel has been contacted by the Butler County Sherriff Department, which disputes the description of Ms. Watkins’ treatment at their facility, but acknowledges she was placed on suicide protocols,” the filing says. “Ms. Watkins denies ever being suicidal or expressing suicidal thoughts, and stands by her assertions she was placed on suicide watch for retaliatory reasons despite repeated assertions that she was not suicidal.”

Butler County Sheriff’s Office Chief Deputy Anthony Dwyer told the Dayton Daily News that when Watkins was processed into the jail, she was kept separate from other inmates at her request for her safety.

He said he can’t comment on medical issues, including whether an inmate was placed on suicide watch after being processed into the jail.

“What we can tell you is if someone we believe has suicidal ideations, we do have a suicide protocol we put in place,” he said. “We take suicide prevention very seriously.”

That process can include putting inmates in cells with the lights on so corrections officers can see them. But the inmates are given heavy gowns to wear that are specifically designed so they can’t be used to commit suicide.

“No one gets stripped naked and placed in a cell for any length of time. That does not occur in our jail,” he said.

He said if an inmate has an injury, the jail has 24/7 medical staff on hand to treat them.

Dwyer said the Butler County Sheriff’s Office reached out to the federal public defender to say if Watkins provides a medical release form, they can provide the court with records about any treatment Watkins may have received.

Also in the supplemental motion, Watkins’ attorney said that the wrong verb was used in the original motion when describing Watkins’ interaction with the Secret Service. The first motion said that she “met” with the Secret Service and that she was providing security to speakers at now former President Trump’s rally.

“Counsel in no way meant to imply that Ms. Watkins met with the Secret Service,” the motion filed Monday says. “A better verb would have been ‘encountered.’ Ms. Watkins spoke with Secret Service members early in the day when she was coming through the check-in point for the VIP area. The point counsel was attempting to make was that she encountered law enforcement, including Secret Service officer on her way to providing security for the rally. She was given directives about things she could and could not do, including directions to leave all tactical gear outside of the VIP area, and she abided by all of those directives.”

The motion said that Watkins was not hired by the U.S. Secret Service to perform security.

Also, prosecutors filed a response Tuesday morning to the defense’s motions asking a judge to keep Watkins locked up until trial.

“This court should thus order the defendant remain held pending trial for her brazen and unapologetic participation in offenses that are among ‘the more threatening to our way of life,” the response said.