UNION CITY, Tenn.—Two white supremacists charged with plotting to kill President-elect Barack Obama and dozens of other black people are locked up at a West Tennessee jail where they aren’t allowed to mingle with other inmates.

Twenty-year-old Daniel Cowart and 18-year-old Paul Schlesselman are awaiting trial on federal firearms charges and with threatening a presidential candidate. No trial date has been set.

They are being held at the Obion County Jail, which contracts with the U.S. Marshals Service to keep federal prisoners who are awaiting trial.

Sheriff Jerry Vastbinder said the two are in the same cell but segregated from the rest of the jail population for their own protection.

The jail at which Cowart and Schlesselman are being held was first reported by the Union City Daily Messenger.

Cowart of Bells, Tenn., and Schlesselman of Helena-West Helena, Ark., are accused of plotting a robbery and murder spree that would culminate with an attack on Obama.