Puerto Rican suspect isolated in jail for safety

HARTFORD, Conn. – The U.S. Marshals Service says a Puerto Rican nationalist who complained to supporters about his treatment as he awaits trial in a 1983 robbery was held apart from other inmates for several weeks because of safety concerns.

Norberto Gonzalez Claudio has been held at the Donald W. Wyatt Detention Facility in Rhode Island since he was captured in Puerto Rico in May. He faces charges stemming from the robbery of $7 million from an armored car depot in Connecticut.

U.S. Marshal for Connecticut Joseph Faughnan (FOR-nan) said Friday that Gonzalez was under restrictions while officials completed a routine safety assessment.

Gonzalez said in a letter to supporters last month that he was being kept in his cell around the clock and lashed out against his jailers as "imperialist abusers."