{"id":1519781,"date":"2022-06-17T06:19:15","date_gmt":"2022-06-17T10:19:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1519781"},"modified":"2022-06-17T06:19:18","modified_gmt":"2022-06-17T10:19:18","slug":"republican-coalition-decries-treatment-of-jan-6-defendants-in-dc-gulag","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/republican-coalition-decries-treatment-of-jan-6-defendants-in-dc-gulag\/","title":{"rendered":"Republican Coalition Decries Treatment of Jan. 6 Defendants in &#8220;DC Gulag&#8221;"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">22<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Frepublican-coalition-decries-treatment-of-jan-6-defendants-in-dc-gulag%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1519781&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>During a June 15 press conference, a small band of Republican lawmakers blasted the treatment of \u201cpolitical prisoners\u201d in the \u201cD.C. gulag,\u201d discussing disturbing cases of mistreatment of defendants charged in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol breach and calling on other lawmakers to join them in decrying the situation.<\/p>\n<p>In the wake of the Jan. 6, 2021, \u201cStop the Steal\u201d rally, many supporters of President Donald Trump who entered the Capitol building were systematically rounded up. Many have been held in the D.C. jail awaiting trial for over a year, with numerous reports of horrific conditions inside the facility.<\/p>\n<p>In December 2021 Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), who has been one of the most outspoken critics of the treatment of these \u201cpolitical prisoners,\u201d unveiled a report on the situation inside the D.C. jail.<\/p>\n<p>These detainees have faced <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/nothing-short-of-human-rights-violations-greene-blasts-treatment-of-jan-6-political-prisoners_4143767.html\">\u201cnothing short of human rights violations,\u201d<\/a> Greene and a smattering of Republican colleagues said upon unveiling their report.<\/p>\n<p>On June 15, a group of Republican congressmen, including Reps. Greene, Louie Gohmert (R-Texas), Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.), and Troy Nehls (R-Texas), again hosted a conference to bring attention to the treatment of these detainees, bringing to light new information about the abuses they have suffered.<\/p>\n<h2>\u2018What If It Was You?\u2019: Greene Decries Conditions In \u2018DC Gulag\u2019<\/h2>\n<p>During an impassioned speech, Greene blasted the treatment of detainees in what she called the \u201cD.C. gulag.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/t-january-6\">January 6<\/a> defendants, she said, are \u201cbeing used as pawns to dangle in front of [Americans] to show that if you cross a certain line, if you support a certain president\u2014as in President Trump\u2014or if you dare to speak up against the government or \u2026 against an election being stolen, you\u2019re going to be used. This is what\u2019s gonna happen to you. You\u2019re gonna spend your days wasting away in solitary confinement.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShame on them. Shame on the Dept of Justice. Shame on all these judges here who are allowing this to happen, shame on [Washington] Mayor Muriel Bowser.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Greene has on various occasions sent Bowser letters requesting information and changes to the treatment of these detainees, but these have gone ignored, Greene said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEveryone should care about this,\u201d Greene said. \u201cYou wanna know why? Because it shouldn\u2019t happen in America. This isn\u2019t communist China, this isn\u2019t Venezuela, this isn\u2019t Russia, this isn\u2019t some other country\u2014this is the United States of America.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Citing the summer 2020 Black Lives Matter riots, which caused billions in damage across the United States and resulted in many violent rioters avoiding charges, Greene said that the treatment of January 6 defendants shows that the United States has a \u201ctwo-tiered justice system.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey got let off, and not only did they get let off\u2014they got bailed out by our now-vice president, Kamala Harris, and Congresswoman Ilhan Omar\u201d Greene said of the rioters. \u201cYou haven\u2019t seen Republicans bailing [January 6 defendants] out or paying their attorney fees. But that\u2019s exactly what Democrats did\u2014and they were cheered on.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd here we have these peoples\u2019 rights being abused, and nobody gives a damn,\u201d Greene said of the January 6 defendants.<\/p>\n<p>Greene, who after months of pushing was finally allowed to enter the D.C. jail,\u00a0described horrific conditions for January 6 detainees.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI saw men who hadn\u2019t had a haircut, couldn\u2019t shave, they were filthy, dirty, and disgusting, they looked extremely unhealthy because [they are forced to] choose between going outside an hour a day or calling their family,\u201d Greene reported.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhile I was in there, congressman Gohmert and I met people who had been denied medical treatment,\u201d Greene said later. \u201cI met a man whose finger was broken and turned sideways \u2026 I met another man whose entire arm was purple. And [the other defendants] all begged me, \u2018Please, if you help anyone help him. He needs a doctor.&#8217;\u201d<\/p>\n<p>During another speech, Gohmert added, \u201cThere\u2019s still very concerning things that are going on [in facilities housing January 6 defendants],\u201d Gohmert said. \u201cThis should concern every American because it could be you next.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>For example, he said, January 6 defendants were forced to go into solitary quarantine for two weeks if they meet with their lawyers\u2014allegedly an anti-COVID measure, but one that Gohmert suggested is intended far more punitively.<\/p>\n<p>Not helping the plight of these defendants, Gohmert said, is a \u201chateful\u201d deputy warden, Kathleen Landerkin, who has in the past posted virulently anti-Trump statements online.<\/p>\n<p>Closing her remarks, Greene said that by refusing to aid the plight of these detainees,\u00a0\u201cWe\u2019re making a mockery of ourselves [as Americans].\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat if it was you?\u201d<\/p>\n<h2>\u2018Weaponization of the Court System\u2019: Defendants Face Biased DC Juries, Deprivation of Due Process<\/h2>\n<p>Several speakers at the event, hosted by the Patriot Freedom Project, which advocates for January 6 defendants, also noted the legal rights abuses that these detainees have faced.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis has been a weaponization of the court system, the Department of Justice, and of the prison system,\u201d ruled Rep. Biggs, who said that the defendants have been denied due process.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat should never happen anywhere in this nation, but it\u2019s happening right here in the nation\u2019s Capitol,\u201d Biggs said. \u201cIt\u2019s a scourge, a pox on this country. We should all be embarrassed by that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Pointing to conditions described by lawmakers who visited the facilities and by inmates themselves, Biggs also argued that \u201cinternational law would say what\u2019s happened to [Jan. 6 defendants] is torture.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat\u2019s happening here is not anything more than the politicization and weaponization of America\u2019s justice system,\u201d Biggs concluded. \u201cGod help us all if we don\u2019t stop it today.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The conditions faced by January 6 defendants, which would not be permissible at almost any other facility, have been allowed to stand \u201cbecause of the people held inside the jail,\u201d Rep. Nehls said.<\/p>\n<p>Aside from being forcibly quarantined if they meet with their attorneys, Gohmert also noted that pretrial detainment of defendants as a punitive measure, which January 6 defendants have faced, is illegal under rulings by the Supreme Court.<\/p>\n<p>Another speaker, Patriot Freedom Project founder Cynthia Hale, who the wife of a January 6 defendant, also blasted the legal treatment that these detainees have received at the hands of D.C. juries.<\/p>\n<p>Hale\u2019s husband was recently convicted by what Hale described as \u201can incredibly biased D.C. jury\u201d of obstructing a session of Congress. The evidence presented against him, she said, was the suit and tie he wore on January 6 and a Trump flag he picked up inside the Capitol.<\/p>\n<p>Hale called for the trials of January 6 defendants to be moved out of D.C., which in recent presidential elections voted over 95 percent Democrat. The political demographics of D.C., Hale said, make it impossible for these defendants to receive a fair trial.<\/p>\n<p>Her husband, Hale said, has spent much of the past year and a half in solitary confinement despite being a nonviolent offender, \u201chas been denied medical treatment on several occasions, he does not see the sun, and I anticipate many health issues due to inadequate nutrition.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat we are watching is political theater and Trump supporters\u2014particularly this group of Trump supporters\u2014are the collateral damage,\u201d Hale said.<\/p>\n<h2>US Army Combat Vet, January 6 Defendant Faces Sexual Assault, \u2018Horrendous\u2019 Conditions In Detainment<\/h2>\n<p>Another speaker, who introduced herself only as Angela, described the \u201chorrendous\u201d conditions faced by her son\u2014a U.S. Army combat vet who served in Afghanistan\u2014at the D.C. jail and Northern Neck Regional Detention Facility, including a sexual assault by guards.<\/p>\n<p>Before his incarceration, she said, her son was on track to become a history teacher, though still suffering from both the physical and mental scars of his combat tours in Afghanistan; he had never been charged with a crime, she noted.<\/p>\n<p>Moving on to a discussion of the conditions he has faced, Angela said,\u00a0\u201cThe conditions at the D.C. jail are horrendous.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHis rations often smell like cleaning fluid,\u201d she said. \u201cThere were pubic hairs included in [some] portions of his food. The drinking water was visibly dirty. Mold was visible in cells. And roaches lived among them.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Her son was ultimately moved out of the facility in November 2021 after an \u201cunprovoked assault\u201d by facility guards.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe unprovoked assault, by no less than five guards,\u201d the defendant\u2019s mother said, voice breaking, \u201cincluded graphic sexual components and resulted in his transfer.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>This, she said, despite her son having received no infractions for bad behavior during the entirety of his detention.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was believed that this assault was in retaliation for meeting with his representation,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n<p>While incarcerated, she said, her son has organized religious services for defendants, including Bible studies and celebrations on Easter and Christmas.<\/p>\n<p>Various motions to have her son released in advance of his trial have been denied\u2014suggesting, she said, that the pretrial detention of her son has been \u201ccompletely punitive.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Concluding her remarks, the defendant\u2019s mother read aloud a statement prepared by her son.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAll the physical, emotional, psychological, and legal abuses you have heard about the first American political prisoners\u2019 suffering at the hands of their jailers are true,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI am limited to seeing the blue sky for a single hour once every seven days\u2014if [the facility] feels like providing outside recreation.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnts crawl all over my body when I go to sleep in my bunk and constantly swarm my commissary. Cockroaches jumping out of my food is a frequent occurrence. Mouse poop is in the cereal and on dry food. At times there are yellow [urine] stains in dry foods such as Rice Krispies. There are swarms of rats in the kitchen. The bathrooms have constant sitting rancid water due to the toilets leaking fecal matter. Black, leech-like insects emerge inside of the drains and flies constantly buzz around all the living areas.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAbsolutely no in-person visitation is permitted from anyone I know other than my attorney\u2014that\u2019s been for over a year.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo books can be sent to me.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo consistent access to discovery evidence is taking place. There is only one outdated computer for the entire jail shared by over 400 inmates.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn my 365 days of incarceration, I have been able to spend minimal hours on discovery\u2014and my trial is 11 weeks away.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cGuards [at both facilities I have been at] antagonize people.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn the D.C. jail, I was assaulted and harassed. I am no murderer. I am no rapist. I am no arsonist. Before this, I have never been arrested. And yet, I have no hope for bond.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Despite mounting reports of similar conditions faced by other January 6 detainees, most members of Congress\u2014Democrats and Republicans alike\u2014have refrained from highlighting the issue.<\/p>\n<p>The June 15 press conference came as the House <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/t-january-6-committee\">January 6 Committee<\/a>, which has been described as a \u201cpartisan witch hunt\u201d by Trump and other Republicans, enters its third day of public hearings.<\/p>\n<p>During the first hearing, the panel claimed that the January 6 Capitol breach was an attempted \u201cinsurrection\u201d against the United States directed and organized by Trump and his allies.<\/p>\n<p>During the second, it moved to challenge Trump\u2019s claims of widespread election fraud as part of its effort to bolster this claim.<\/p>\n<p>However, the treatment of January 6 defendants has not come up in these hearings, and the commission seems unlikely to discuss the issue anytime soon.<\/p>\n<p>The D.C. Metropolitan Jail and Northern Necks Regional Detention Facility did not immediately reply to a request for comment.<\/p>\n<div class=\"author_wrapper\">\n<div class=\"one_author_block round\">\n<div class=\"top_row\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/author-joseph-lord\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Follow<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Joseph Lord is a congressional reporter for The Epoch Times.\n<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>During a June 15 press conference, a small band of Republican lawmakers blasted the treatment of \u201cpolitical prisoners\u201d in the \u201cD.C. gulag,\u201d discussing disturbing cases of mistreatment of defendants charged<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1519781","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1519781","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1519781"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1519781\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1519781"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1519781"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1519781"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}