The Washington D.C. Jail – where dozens of Capitol rioters are housed before their trials – is like ‘Guantanamo Bay’, a lawyer representing one of the protestors told DailyMail.com.
The suspects are held in solitary confinement in cells the ‘size of a walk-in closets’ for up 24 hours a day and treated like ‘domestic terrorists’ by jail guards after several law enforcement officers were injured and killed during the January 6 violence at the Capitol, lawyer Joseph McBride said.
McBride, who represents Richard ‘Bigo’ Barnett, 60, of Arkansas – the man known for putting his feet up on Speaker Nancy Pelosi‘s desk – claimed that the guards are ‘roughing up’ the siege suspects to show solidarity with law enforcement who protected the Capitol.
‘The DC Central Detention Facility has become Guantanamo Bay for American Citizens,’ McBride told DailyMail.com.
‘In the eyes of the Federal Government, the 2021 Trump supporter is the 2001 religious Muslim. This is demonstrated by the fact that Trump Supporters, type casted as extremists, are being illegally detained pretrial by the United States Government.’
Nearly all of the Capitol protest suspects have spent time in the Washington D.C. Jail, where they await their trials.
McBride said there were about 30 Capitol protest suspects in the jail in April when his client was released under house arrest – following three months at DC Central. Many of riot suspects have also been released under house arrest or moved to another jail.
The Washington D.C. Department of Corrections didn’t respond to multiple calls and emails for interview or say how many are currently being housed.
McBride said guards told his client and other ‘1/6ers’ that ‘the world hates them,’ ‘they’ll be forgotten’ and ‘they’ll spend the rest of their lives in here,’ among other disparaging remarks.
There’s a pending grievance against one of the guards who allegedly threatened to sexually assault Barnett’s wife.
Another Capitol rioter, Ryan Samsel, was allegedly beaten by a guard so badly that he may lose an eye and has had his jaw wired shut, his lawyer Elisabeth Pasqualini said in media interviews.
Samsel is accused of attacking a law enforcement officer during the insurrection.
The Department of Corrections deny their guards’ involvement but Pasqualini is urging them to allow her client to be transferred to another jail for his own protection.
‘Mr. Samsel’s safety and medical wellbeing remains at risk as a result of his continued incarceration,’ she said in a May 24 motion to transfer her client to another jail.
In the May 24 court document, Pasqualini stated that her client was assaulted and that they’re still waiting for medical records.
Samsel, Barnett, and other Capitol protestors’ human rights ‘are routinely violated… absent meaningful objection from the legal community, academia, or the media,’ McBride told DailyMail.com.
‘(The jail guards) do their best to get guys to break us down mentally,’ Barnett said in an email to DailyMail.com. ‘We did our best to help out whatever guy was suffering that day.’
Anyone charged in connection with the January 6 siege of the Capitol is given ‘maximum security’ designation for their protection and placed in ‘restrictive housing,’ according to court documents from several Capitol protest suspects.
The ‘1/6ers’ – a term coined in a four-page jailhouse letter written by Guy Reffitt referring to suspects connected to the Capitol protest on January 6 – have at most one hour a day when they’re not in solitary, Barnett said.
And that’s if they’re lucky.
‘Obviously, if you go to the hole, you are in the box 24/7,’ said Barnett, who became a public face of the incident when he propped his feet on Pelosi’s desk in a viral photo.
Otherwise, their days started at 3am when they were woken up and given ‘slop’ for breakfast, Barnett said.
Lunch was 11am, and that ‘is the best meal of the day,’ he said.
Dinner came at 6pm: ‘It was ‘baloney and cheese 70 percent of the time. Dinner was almost always not edible,’ Barnett said.
There wasn’t much else to do in between, he said.
They were locked down 23 hours a day with one one of recreation time, which could be anywhere from 9am to 9pm, Barnett said.
Barnett said that only one of the self-described ‘1/6ers’ were allowed out at a time during rec time.
During that hour, they could to use the phone, take a shower or walk around. Depending on what guard was on duty, they could visit the door of ‘one of the other guys to say hello,’ Barnett said.
At lunch time, the pledge of allegiance and signing of the National Anthem were the only thing keeping their heads above water while they were in jail, Barnett said.
‘While our lawyers do our bidding and the judges do their duties, we remain resolute, reciting The Pledge of Allegiance and signing The National Anthem, all in unison, loud and proud most everyday,’ Reffitt wrote in his jailhouse letter.
That started during rec hour, Barnett told DailyMail.com.
Someone ‘would stand in the middle of our area and recite the Pledge of Allegiance. We would join in. It boosted moral,’ Barnett said.
‘At some point we started singing the National Anthem every night at 7pm. I would start it off because I had the loudest voice. We did it for unity, love of country, and because we are patriots.’
See pics and read the rest here; https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9602127/Inside-Washington-jail-accused-Capitol-rioters-treated-domestic-terrorists.html
Anyone charged in connection with the January 6 siege of the Capitol is given ‘maximum security’ designation for their protection and placed in ‘restrictive housing,’ according to court documents from several Capitol protest suspects.
‘maximum security’ is reserved for MURDERERS and those that are violent while in jail. the protesters don’t need to be in MAX for there safety. they where put there to on purpose to punish them. as for the rest of the abuse, that is is SOP everywhere!