As of Dec. 14, there were still 34 people in a Washington jail awaiting trial on charges related to the Jan. 6 Capitol breach nearly three years ago, The Epoch Times has learned
The District of Columbia Department of Corrections confirmed the number in response to a Freedom of Information Act request.
“It’s way more than I would have thought,” said attorney Charles Burnham.
Mr. Burnham, a Washington-based attorney, has represented nine Jan. 6 defendants, although none of them have been detained pretrial.
“I was thinking to myself that they must be getting down to the last ones at this point,” he told The Epoch Times.
“My question would be: How many people are being held pretrial for the invasion of the Cannon Office Building?” Mr. Burnham said. “My suspicion is zero.”
Mr. Burnham was referring to an October incident in which hundreds of Pro-Palestinian protesters, organized by the progressive anti-Zionist group Jewish Voice for Peace, stormed the Cannon House Office Building, took over the rotunda and disrupted the vote for the new House speaker.
The incident drew comparisons to the law enforcement response between the Pro-Palestinian protesters and the Jan. 6 protesters. About 300 people were arrested at the October demonstration for refusing to leave the building and three people were charged with assaulting a police officer during processing, NBC Washington reported. It’s unclear whether any of them have been held in pretrial detention.
‘Selective Persecution’
Maria Rodriguez, a Florida-based criminal defense and civil litigation attorney who has represented several Jan. 6 defendants, describes what is happening to Jan. 6 prisoners as “a travesty.”Having been inside the Central Detention Facility in Washington many times, she said “you can feel the tension.”
“Whether you want to call it torture or abuse,” the things guards can get away with in a U.S. prison are outrageous, Mr. Gohmert told The Epoch Times in 2022.
He expressed particular disdain over reports of Central Detention Facility Lieutenant Crystal Lancaster and Deputy Warden Kathleen Landerkin’s alleged verbal and physical abuse of Jan. 6 prisoners and open expressions of personal hatred of former President Donald Trump.
“It’s just wrong,” he said.
Ms. Rodriguez concurs.
“A lot has gone wrong with the cases of many of those J6 defendants who continue to sit in the D.C. gulag, month after month, year after year,” she said. “There’s a machine working against them day and night. It’s not that they have been held for years without a trial, it’s the fact that they weren’t released pretrial.”
Even when a defendant has been “indicted with committing violence against a law enforcement officer during a civil disorder,” Ms. Rodriguez said, “the defendant should be afforded the same constitutional and statutory rights and protections as any other defendant in any other jurisdiction.”
“Elements of criminal statutes are supposed to be blind to political party or political agenda,” she noted. “However, that hasn’t been the case with J6. Therein lies the problem. We can call this ‘selective prosecution.'”
When prosecutors and judges are highly prejudiced against a defendant, requesting and issuing “extreme punishment post-plea or trial,” she said, “we can call this ’selective sentencing.'”
The Law
While Mr. Burnham was surprised to learn of the number of pretrial detainees being held in Washington, he said not all are being denied due process.“Sometimes the defendant consents to continuances,” Mr. Burnham said, explaining that they may be afraid of receiving the same harsh sentences they’ve seen other Jan. 6 prisoners receive.
However, for those who have objected to having to wait all this time without a trial, Mr. Burnham said this could be “a serious constitutional problem with their speedy trial rights.”
Defendants Objecting to Delay
According to U.S. Courts, “Our laws establish a general presumption that defendants must be released before trial unless the government proves at a detention hearing that they should be detained as a danger to the community or as a flight risk.”
According to Mr. Burnham, Jan. 6 protesters are primarily a peaceful sort.
“My experience with January 6 clients is that most of them have little criminal records,” he recalled. “They have jobs. They’re patriotic and work in their communities. They have families. By and large these are the kinds of people I see getting swept up in this, with few notable exceptions.”
In addition, the Bail Reform Act of 1984 requires courts to “consider the safety of any person or the community when making a pretrial release determination.”
At the age of 20, Isaac Thomas is the youngest prisoner to be incarcerated for participating in the Jan. 6 protest.
“I was incarcerated in the D.C. Gulag on August 28 and it’s been a real hell hole,” he told The Epoch Times by phone. “The food they give me isn’t edible at all.”
He’s also been denied basic medical treatment for his asthma, he said.
He alleges his cell was flooded with raw sewage three times and that some days, he goes without toilet paper. He was electrocuted in the shower due to a short in a light switch and treatment was delayed, he said, adding that he now has nerve damage.
“The guards have a bias, like, a hatred against the January 6 people,” he said. “They refer to us as ‘insurrectionists.’ We’re treated more like animals than humans.”
