34 Capitol riot defendants sign letter asking to be moved to Guantanamo

Defendants claim ‘Gitmo’ would be better than ‘remaining trapped within the wretched confines of cruel and unusual punishment of the DC jail’

Dozens of defendants in the Capitol Riot investigation have asked to be moved from their Washington DC jail to Guantanamo Bay as they claim they’d be treated better there.

As many as 34 defendants awaiting court dates or serving sentences linked to the insurrection on January 6 2021 signed a letter slamming the conditions in the federal correctional facility in the US capital.

They complain about mould in the showers, that the water includes rust, as well as the presence of mice and cockroaches. But they also claim that there’s “Critical Race Theory” or “Re-education” propaganda on the tablets given to the prisoners. The defendants also say that they’re being mocked by the employees at the jail with clothing related to Vice President Kamala Harris and that they’re punished for sharing “any political views whatsoever,” Vice News noted.

Meanwhile, the signees of the letter state that the military prison at Guantanamo Bay, known for violations of human rights, gives its inmates “nutritional meals,” “top-notch medical care,” and that it’s “respectful of religious requirements”.

They also write that there are facilities for exercise and recreation, “despite the fact that those residents are malicious terrorists”.

They say that “Gitmo” would be better than “remaining trapped within the wretched confines of cruel and unusual punishment of the DC jail”.

“We hereby request to spend our precious and limited days, should the government continue to insist on holding us captive unconstitutionally as pre-trial detainees, to be transferred and reside at Guantanamo Bay,” the defendants say in the letter.

The military prison in Cuba was opened by former President George W Bush after the 9/11 terror attacks in 2001 to hold individuals suspected of terrorism. Former inmates at the facility have made allegations of waterboarding, sexual assault, beatings, as well as sleep deprivation and other abuses.

Human rights groups have repeatedly noted that inmates are held there without a trial.

One of the inmates who signed the letter is Dominic Pezzola, a member of the far-right extremist group the Proud Boys. Mr Pezzola has been charged with seditious conspiracy and was caught on footage breaking windows at the US Capitol on January 6 and letting members of the mob climb inside, according to Vice News.

Dominic Pezzola is a member of the Proud Boys and one of the Capitol riot defendants who signed the letter asking to be sent to Guantanamo (FBI/AP/DOJ)

Jessica Watkins also signed the letter. The member of the Oath Keepers also faces charges of seditious conspiracy.

In the letter signed by the 34 detainees, they write that they were surprised to understand that “a country that ensures ‘Liberty and Justice for All’” would allow for its citizens to endure “hellacious conditions” and “medieval standards of living,” in the jail in Washington, DC.

The letter was part of a legal filing last week by a lawyer for one of the defendants requesting that he be released.

There’s no evidence to show that the January 6 defendants are being treated worse than anybody else in the jail but their complaints concerning the conditions inside the jail are similar to those of local officials, as well as criminal justice activists, and other detainees.

On 28 February 2019, the Office of the District of Columbia Auditor released a report stating that “poor conditions persist at” the “aging” jail facility and that a new one was needed to “mitigate risks”.

The complaints of the members of the mob brought attention to the issue, with the US Marshals Service starting an investigation last October into the facilities following an order from a federal judge who had grown annoyed at officials for not handing over records to a lawyer representing a Capitol riot defendant.

The DC Jail is made up of two facilities, with the US Marshals not finding any major faults at the Correctional Treatment Facility where January 6 defendants are housed.

But 400 inmates were moved to a Pennsylvania prison after investigators discovered severe problems at the older Central Detention Facility, Vice News reported.