The Tribune

THE YOUTHFUL thief known as the Barefoot Bandit is being held in solitary confinement at a Washington state prison, a situation his lawyer calls absurd. Colton Harris-Moore, 21, has been placed in the intensive management unit at Walla Walla State Penitentiary, where convicts facing the death penalty are housed, the Department of Corrections confirmed Friday. Spokeswoman Selena Davis said it is standard to place high-profile inmates in such confinement for their own protection. "You're there by yourself," Davis said. "No one can pose a threat to you." His Seattle attorney, John Henry Browne, insisted that Harris-Moore neither needs nor wants such protection. Harris-Moore was sentenced in December to seven years in state prison for dozens of crimes, including burglary and identity theft, stemming from his sensational two-year run from the law in stolen boats, cars and airplanes. A self-taught pilot, he was finally apprehended in a hail of bullets in the Bahamas in 2010, after he crash-landed a plane stolen from an Indiana airport. Harris-Moore has been in solitary confinement at Walla Walla since April 11, and will remain there pending a final prison placement.