Letters From Jail
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The D.C. Corrections Department for a second time turned away two House lawmakers seeking to check the prison conditions of Jan. 6 defendants locked up in the troubled facility.
A jailer told Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene and Louie Gohmert, “We’re finished,” as they pressed for entry and were denied.
“What are you hiding?” asked Greene, who has helped to lead the effort to free the defendants. “As members of Congress, we have oversight over the district,” she said in a video she posted to Twitter.
She wrote on the platform, “Today @replouiegohmert and myself were denied entry to visit Louie’s constituent & conduct oversight at the DC jail. I’m extremely concerned about the treatment of J6 defendants & now ALL inmates being held there.”
"Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... " - Mik, 6/14/08
The saying, "Lite is just one damn thing after another," is a gross understatement. The damn things overlap.
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Always remember, Operation Valkyrie was an act of sedition.
Warning: I post things that interest me. Read and comment at your own discretion. -
Always remember, Operation Valkyrie was an act of sedition.
Warning: I post things that interest me. Read and comment at your own discretion. -
@jolly said in Letters From Jail:
Probably.
The bottom line, is why are these guys still in jail? People charged with much more serious crime are out on bail in hours.
That’s a completely fair question, and one that should be answered. Unfortunately, I believe the article you posted risks undermining the case for that.
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Has anyone filed habeas corpus? It seems like the right first step, which is why we have that doctrine....
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@ivorythumper said in Letters From Jail:
Has anyone filed habeas corpus? It seems like the right first step, which is why we have that doctrine....
The U.S. Constitution specifically includes the habeas procedure in the Suspension Clause (Clause 2), located in Article One, Section 9. This states that "The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in cases of rebellion or invasion the public safety may require it".
Public safety! That's the ticket! Don't want no unlawful parading! Waving flags might put your eye out!
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https://amgreatness.com/2021/11/04/j6-detainee-subjected-to-post-lawyer-meeting-strip-search/
Immediately following an in-person meeting with his defense attorney, Robert Morss, a January 6 detainee held in part of the D.C. jail system used exclusively to incarcerate Capitol defendants, was subjected to a strip search where he was verbally and physically abused by prison guards.
Morss, a former Army ranger with three tours of duty in Afghanistan, was arrested in June and later indicted on numerous counts including assaulting a police officer and disorderly conduct. (Morss is named in a multi-defendant case with others who battled police near the lower west terrace tunnel, where law enforcement officers from D.C. Metro and Capitol police were attacking protesters.) In July, Judge Trevor McFadden, a Trump appointee to the D.C. District Court, denied Morss’ release pending trial.
Morss met with his attorney, John C. Kiyonaga, in advance of a status hearing scheduled for Friday afternoon. After Morss returned to the so-called “pod,” prison guards informed him he would need to be strip searched.
By telephone from the jail Thursday afternoon, Morss told me this was the fifth time he has been subjected to a strip search, but this time, guards ordered him to remove his underwear. “There were five guards there including a few I didn’t know,” Morss told me. “I asked for literature that authorized the strip search and they refused to answer.”
A female guard with a cell phone repeatedly asked Morss if he was resisting the strip search. Morss said officers with the ERT —he said it stands for Emergency Response Team—then handcuffed him and put him in a “black room” with a chair. One prison guard, Corporal Armstrong, was present as well. “They shoved me around and maced me,” Morss said. “When I opened my mouth, they pointed the can of mace toward my mouth.”
Morss “humiliating” search included graphic details of a sexual nature. (American Greatness will not disclose these details to protect Morss’ privacy.) “This was direct retaliation” for meeting with his lawyer, Morss told me.
Lawyers plan to file a motion seeking Morss’ release from the D.C. jail. On Wednesday, Judge Royce Lamberth issued a ruling to immediately transport Christopher Worrell, a cancer sufferer who’s been in the D.C. jail since April, to a jail in Alexandria, Virginia over fear he would be punished upon return to the jail after his hearing. Lamberth met with officials from the U.S. Marshall’s Service, the official custodian of January 6 defendants, last week for a briefing about conditions in the jail. One official told Lamberth that “staff members were observed antagonizing detainees, telling them not to cooperate with the (court-ordered) inspection.” Lamberth told federal prosecutors on Wednesday that some of the conduct by prison employees resulted in “civil rights and probably criminal violations.”
Nearly five months after his arrest, Morss still has no court date. McFadden has complained in court that Biden’s Justice Department is delaying discovery but has taken no actions to ensure the Constitutional and human rights of court-ordered detainees are being protected.
Whatever happened to "presumed innocent?"
Judge Orders Release Of January 6 Defendant After Inspection Shows ‘Mistreatment Of Detainees’
Following an impromptu inspection of the D.C. jail, a federal judge has ordered the release of January 6 defendant, Christopher Worrell, over the mistreatment of detainees.
The surprise inspection of the jail by U.S. Marshals took place last month, but the report from the inspection was not made public until Wednesday.
Due to the findings, U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth said he has “‘zero confidence that the D.C. jail’ will provide the treatment correctly and not retaliate against Worrell,” who has cancer, CNN reported Wednesday.
Lamberth called the jail conditions “deplorable” and “beyond belief,” ordering Worrell transferred immediately to another jail and then released home to start cancer treatment, the report outlined.
Some 400 prisoners are being moved out of the jail after the “deplorable” conditions were uncovered. According to CNN, the Marshals’ report found that water was being shutoff in many cells “for punitive reasons” for days at a time, toilets were clogged, and an inmate who had been pepper-sprayed was “unable to wash the spray off for days, leading to an infection.”
The D.C. Department of Corrections staff were “antagonizing detainees” and “directing detainees to not cooperate with” U.S. Marshals during the inspection, the agency said, and “[o]ne DOC staffer was observed telling a detainee to ‘stop snitching.’”
Last month, Lamberth called for the Department of Justice to open a civil rights investigation into the matter and held two officials in contempt of court for delaying medical treatment to Worrell, The Daily Beast reported.
“It’s more than just inept and bureaucratic shuffling of papers,” Lamberth blasted. “Does no one care? Does no one follow up?”
“I find that the civil rights of the defendant have been abused,” the judge asserted.
“During the hearing, Lamberth said that jail officials failed to turn over critical information that was needed to approve surgery for the accused rioter’s broken wrist—even though the medical procedure was recommended four months ago,” the report noted.
“I don’t know if it’s because he’s a January 6th defendant or not, but I find this matter should be referred to the attorney general of the United States for a civil rights investigation into whether the D.C. Department of Corrections is violating the civil rights of January 6th defendants … in this and maybe other cases,” Lamberth said.
Sue the FUCK out of them.
"Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... " - Mik, 6/14/08
The saying, "Lite is just one damn thing after another," is a gross understatement. The damn things overlap.
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@doctor-phibes said in Letters From Jail:
@jolly said in Letters From Jail:
@doctor-phibes said in Letters From Jail:
@mik said in Letters From Jail:
Not right if true.
Does it sound very likely to you?
That's the question, isn't it? What if it is true? What if half of it is true?
What if none of it is true?
It doesn't sound very likely. Imported African guards who are indoctrinated to hate America, somebody being savagely beaten for a bible class, somebody losing 15 pounds and being unrecognizable to his family?
To be honest, it sounds a little delusional.
Still think none of it is true?
Always remember, Operation Valkyrie was an act of sedition.
Warning: I post things that interest me. Read and comment at your own discretion. -
@jolly said in Letters From Jail:
@doctor-phibes said in Letters From Jail:
@jolly said in Letters From Jail:
@doctor-phibes said in Letters From Jail:
@mik said in Letters From Jail:
Not right if true.
Does it sound very likely to you?
That's the question, isn't it? What if it is true? What if half of it is true?
What if none of it is true?
It doesn't sound very likely. Imported African guards who are indoctrinated to hate America, somebody being savagely beaten for a bible class, somebody losing 15 pounds and being unrecognizable to his family?
To be honest, it sounds a little delusional.
Still think none of it is true?
Actually, I've gone on record a number of times as saying the US Justice system is totally fucked up. I rather doubt there's anything special about these folks or this prison.
I don't think these people should still be in prison. I also think that the fact that the US locks up more people than almost any other country is completely wrong. It clearly isn't working. You need to try something different.
Still, I think the original article sounded like bollocks.
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Despite remaining innocent until proven guilty under the law, the January 6 inmates are allowed few, if any, basic human needs. For example, to supplement their lack of nutrition from the jail, inmates must buy food from the commissary with their own money, limited to once-a-week with a maximum of $125. Inmates cannot receive a haircut unless they are vaccinated. They cannot receive communion without being vaccinated. Many have been reduced to using Nair to chemically burn their hair off to keep themselves partially groomed. Most cannot speak to their families. Some are not even sure whether their family members know they are alive or their condition.
One elderly inmate, 71-year-old Lonnie Leroy Coffman, was in such poor condition that his lower forearm had turned purple and his thumb, black. Inmates claimed Lonnie could be in danger of losing his lower arm and has been denied medical treatment. Multiple inmates argued that if there were a way to get any inmate released, it should be Lonnie.
Many inmates suffered from a variety of health and dietary issues: one with a broken finger, another from celiac disease. The inmate with celiac disease must go days without eating because the jail will not accommodate his dietary needs. Other inmates claimed that the jail inserts chemicals and pubic hair in their food. Some inmates keep crackers or peanut butter in their cells to supplement their diet.
The severe treatment of these inmates within the facility cannot be overstated. These men have no access to a law library to work on their cases. Some are forced to represent themselves pro se, drafting dozens of pages of legal motions on notebook paper. Inmates stated that they are only allowed outside twice a week. They cannot go to religious services in the main CTF area because they are not vaccinated.CONCLUSION
The congressional visit to the D.C. jail on November 4 unquestionably proved that there is a two- track justice system in the United States. This two-tiered system is not based on race, violence, or conviction of crime, but politics.
This report demonstrates that pre-trial inmates related to January 6 are treated more harshly than any other inmates in the D.C. jail, even though they have yet to be convicted of any crime. While Young Men Emerging (YME) and other convicted inmates are given access to flat screen TV’s, moot court lessons, and educational iPads, January 6 detainees are denied basic medical care, bathrooms, exercise, religious services, haircuts, and a nutritious diet.
If that were not enough, the outright duplicity of those overseeing the jail could not be more evident. For example, DOC staff were overly conscientious about every person wearing masks in the general population area but could care less about masks or face shields when the congressional delegation interacted with the January 6 inmates in close proximity for over an hour.
Moreover, almost every hallway of the jail was covered in advertisements encouraging inmates to register to vote while some inmates cannot see their families or contact their attorneys. Furthermore, it remains difficult to resist the conclusion that DOC staff support the dissemination of racist and anti-American propaganda to inmates, whether in the form of Nation of Islam newspapers, Critical Race Theory articles, or academic studies teaching young inmates that the United States perpetuates a racial caste system. While these materials are ubiquitous throughout the jail, many inmates cannot get Bibles or basic legal materials to aid in their case work.
The sad, but unsurprising, reality of the D.C. jail reveals that the primary programming goal was centered around access to voting and anti-American propaganda. If preponderance of the evidence is any indicator, it seems more likely that the jail staff was more concerned with inmates voting and understanding that America is racist than ensuring basic healthcare, diet, and civil liberties are preserved. While it cannot be denied that the jail does provide educational resources to some inmates, it is largely dependent on whim rather than equal access about who receives it.
While the delegation sincerely appreciates the DOC staff for providing the tour of the facility, it should not have taken three visits, one congressional letter, and a forced confrontation with the D.C. Mayor’s representative and DOC staff for Members of Congress to inspect a jail they have the constitutional duty and prerogative to oversee. As Representatives Greene and Gohmert pointed out, if there is nothing to hide, there should be no issue in seeing these inmates or their conditions. -
@george-k said in Letters From Jail:
ecifically includes the habeas procedure in the Suspension Clause (Clause 2), located in Article One, Section 9. This states that "The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in cases of rebellion or invasion the public safety may require it".
Again, where the hell is habeas corpus???
