Office of Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene (GA-14)

The following conversation took place in a hallway between the CTF and CDF:

8:40 PM:
Rep. Greene: And we’re seeing the January 6 defendants? That’s part of our tour. That’s in this building [CTF], isn’t it?

Kinlow: I think we are giving you the same tour that the first group did.

Patten: [They] didn’t go [there].

Kinlow: I don’t think we can go there either.

Rep. Greene: That’s part of the tour. That’s part of what we’re doing tonight.

Kinlow: I get that, but I think it’s clear from the Director that we must match the tours. Rep. Greene Staff: We didn’t see what the other tour did.

Patten: Yea…

DC DOC Officer: What it is: we went to…and then YME and then we flipped them [the

delegation tours].10

Rep. Greene: Well, we’re here to see the whole facility—and also see where the January 6 defendants are.

Kinlow: Again, I think the goal was to conform to the first group, and I think that…
Rep. Greene: That’s not what we’re here for. We’re here to see where they are and the rest of

the facility.
Kinlow: I don’t think we have the authority…

Rep. Gohmert: What is there to hide? The complaint has been that they’ve been treated differently than the other detainees. I thought tonight we were going to find out.

Rep. Greene to Rep. Gohmert: I can’t imagine the difference. What’s the difference? All pretrial.

Kinlow: Give me one minute. The Director is offsite. 8:43 PM

pause to wait on Mr. Kinlow to talk on the phone with the Director

10 Recall that after the D.C. City Council split off from the congressional delegation after One Block South, the two groups never crossed paths.

Office of Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene (GA-14) Landerkin: Director says the tour is over.

8:46 PM
Rep. Greene: No, the tour’s not over. The whole point of it was to see the entire place, and to

see the January 6 defendants.

Landerkin: That’s not my call. That’s the Director’s [decision].

Rep. Greene: Why though? What is the reason?

Patten: Let me say this, there is nothing to hide.

Rep. Greene: If there’s nothing to hide, we should be seeing it. It’s not about the first group [D.C. City Council delegation].

Kinlow: Everything that the first group [D.C. City Council delegation] has seen, you have seen. Rep. Greene: We don’t care about the first group.
Kinlow: We are not able to accommodate your request at this time.

Rep. Greene: We went in an area where there were people banging on walls and screaming because they have been held in those cells 24 hours a day, and you’re telling us we can’t see where the January 6 defendants, pretrial are? These people are presumed innocent.

Kinlow: You can’t see where they are today. (Emphasis original)
Rep. Greene: Why? To hose them down and clean [them] up? And the facility? What is the

problem?
Kinlow: This tour is being concluded.

Rep. Greene: No, this tour should not be concluded. If you don’t have anything to hide, then show us.

Kinlow: I have nothing to hide.
Rep. Greene: You know what’s going to happen when we walk out of here. We’re going to say,

“they showed us, gave us this great tour, we got to talk to inmates…” Kinlow: The D.C. Councilmembers and legislators didn’t get to see this. Rep. Greene: I don’t care. They didn’t request this.
Rep. Gohmert: That’s their concern, our concern….

Office of Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene (GA-14)

Kinlow: I’ve got the Director on the line, and under advice from the Director this [tour is over]. Rep. Greene: WHY?!

Rep. Gohmert: Oh, well, if it’s advice, then we can still go. That’s just advice, that’s not a directive.

pause to wait on Mr. Kinlow to talk on the phone with the Director a second time

Rep. Greene: The well-being of everyone is important and I don’t know why we can’t see one area.

At this point, the steel bar door begins to close, separating Kinlow from the remainder of the group. Kinlow continued to speak with the Director as the doors separated him from the group.

The timing of the doors closing created suspicion that someone activated it on purpose. While DOC staff later claimed the doors automatically close on a timer, the Congressional delegation never received a plausible explanation for why the door closed precisely during the confrontation between the Representatives and the Mayor’s staff.

Rep. Greene: Oh, my goodness gracious.

Rep. Greene Staff: Ok, so we just got shut off from the facility. They just locked the door.

Rep Greene: Why though?

Rep. Gohmert—to Rep. Greene: Like when the Marshals had the surprise inspection it was so they could clean it [the area] up better.

But there’s no reason, since it got cleaned up, for us not to be able to go back there.

Rep. Gohmert—to Deputy Warden Landerkin: You understand, we can also make an appearance before the U.S. judge, and I intend to take action.

After Kinlow finished the call around the corner, away from the group, he returned to make an announcement.

Kinlow: Warden [Landerkin], can you open up?
Landerkin: I’ll get the door open.
The steel bar door begins to slowly re-open, Kinlow rejoined the group.

Kinlow: Alright. It’s ok, we’re [going] to go to that section. I don’t know where it is. I’ve never been there.

Office of Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene (GA-14)

DOC Staff: (anxiously) We’ll take them. Kinlow: Well, let’s go ahead and do it.

Rep. Greene: I just think it’s better for everyone because, listen, I don’t think misinformation is a good thing, and this is the best way to dispel of it.
~

After two hours since the beginning of the tour and after demanding to see the January 6 detainees, the Representatives were finally taken to the area. The conversation in the hallway ended and the group proceeded down another series of hallways and elevators within the CTF until reaching a new, lower level.

9. January 6 Detainee Wing (8:55 p.m. – 10:00 p.m.)

After exiting the elevator and turning right, the delegation of approximately 15 people filed into a narrow hallway which led to a secluded area in the back of the CTF. This area was noticeably different: the January 6 detainee wing was a much older part of the jail that had not been updated in many years. One inmate claimed that this section of the jail had once been used as a psychiatric ward that had been decommissioned before the January 6 inmates were assigned there.

DC DOC staff opened a door and allowed Reps. Greene and Gohmert to enter a large, white, artificially lit room with approximately 40 inmates in orange scrubs scattered throughout the room. Inmates began to pour out of the rooms and approach the delegation of Representatives and staff. The wing had two floors, with cells along the walls of both floors. The center of the room contained a few scattered chairs and tables, but largely open space. The remainder of the room had an aged electronic panel controlling the cell doors, and a common shower area with 3 individual showers with curtains.

Moments after Reps. Greene and Gohmert entered the room, the inmates broke into excited yelling and triumphant shouting, astounded by a visit from two sitting Members of Congress. The inmates were overwhelmed with emotions: some crying, almost all emotionally shaken. One inmate asked to hug Congresswoman Greene. Except for the January 6 detainees, no other inmates in any part of the jail cried during the visit. Many January 6 inmates had not seen their families in some time and expressed a sense of hope after such a long period of isolation from the outside world.

As inmates gathered around the representatives, chants of “U-S-A! U-S-A!” rang out. Inmates began to form a line to shake hands with Reps. Greene and Gohmert and their staff. Congresswoman Greene began by asking questions of the inmates:

Rep. Greene: Are you able to see and speak with your attorneys? Inmates: No!

Rep. Greene: Are you able to talk to and see your family members?

Office of Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene (GA-14) Inmate: No! I haven’t seen my family since April.

Inmate: I haven’t seen my family’s faces since all year!

Rep. Greene: If you have long hair, is that by choice?

Inmate: Unless you’re vaccinated you have to use Nair.

Rep. Greene: Do you feel like you’re being treated fairly?

Inmate: No! Absolutely not. We only get five hours a day out of our cells. Which is better than one hour. We were held for 23 hours a day when we got here.

Rep. Greene: Do you go outside?

Inmate: Twice a week.

Rep. Greene: How many times a day do you get meals?

Inmate: Three. Define meal.

Rep. Greene: How often do you get mail?

Inmate: Whenever they [jail guards] feel like it.

Rep. Greene: Do you get to be included in any kind of educational classes or training? Inmates: immense sarcastic laughter

Rep. Greene: Tell me about religious services. Are you allowed to have religious services? Inmate: No. We do our own.

Rep. Greene: Do you have a Bible?

Inmate: Yes ma’am.

Inmate: They said the only way to get Communion is to get vaccinated. Inmate: They sprayed all the cells with bleach before the Marshals came.

As the discussion continued, the inmates assembled for their nightly singing of the “Star- Spangled Banner” at 9 p.m. Following the singing of the national anthem, the congressional delegation began to mingle and have individual discussions with inmates.

Staff for Rep. Greene’s office were shown the conditions inside of cells and community showers. Recently removed mold, dirt, and other stains were clearly visible. Inmates claimed that the Marshals Service had come through their area days before and cleaned it up, in addition to

Office of Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene (GA-14)

painting the walls (or having them painted).11 Some inmates disclosed that when they arrived in the area, the cells were crawling with rats and bed bugs. The air circulation in the individual cells is so minimal that human feces and other smells begin to fester and pollute the air.

But the physical conditions of the area were just the start. Inmates were only allowed out of their cells for five hours a day, a small mercy. Prior to this relative freedom, inmates were kept in their cells similar to the maximum security inmates: 23 and 1 (23 hours in the cell, 1 hour out), 22 and 2, (21 and 3), etc. One inmate, who had been detained since February 3, 2021, explained that he had been subjected to “23 and 1” for four months, followed by two months of 22 and 2. This inmate stated that he had gone through 200 days of solitary confinement. This type of treatment is being used against inmates who are all pre-trial. They have been convicted of nothing.

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.

Representatives Greene and Gohmert continued to talk with the inmates, sign their Bibles and Constitutions, and listened to their stories. Staff received information from many of the inmates on the status of their cases, conditions in the January 6 detainee wing of the CTF, or requests to contact family or attorneys.

11 Recall that Representatives Greene and Gohmert tried to enter the jail two days earlier but were blocked by the Deputy Warden. As the conversation with inmates progressed, Deputy Warden Landerkin moved to the stairs between the first and second floor of the area and watched over the detainees and the congressional delegation.

Office of Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene (GA-14)

One inmate provided Representative Greene with a longer explanation of how the January 6 group of inmates were being treated in the months leading up to the visit:

Inmate 1:

Congresswoman Greene, I want to talk to you about September 18th. Remember they had the big rally in support of us at the square in Washington [D.C.]?

They [DOC] woke us up prisoner-of-war style in the dawn, at 7:00 in the morning. [They] made us grab our mattresses in our hands and didn’t tell us where we were going, what was happening, how long we were going to be gone. They marched us down single file out of here, we started singing the national anthem; I got punched in the gut for singing the national anthem by a guard here as retaliation.

They pulled us down into a random part of the jail and kept us there for 9 hours where there were no sinks, no bathrooms, or anything. We didn’t know what was happening to us. It was literally how you treated prisoners-of-war to keep them disoriented and not let them know where you’re going and everything – it was a travesty. They did that to us about at 8:00 in the morning to about 6:00 at night.

Inmate 2: That was the day the rally happened. I saw him get punched by the officer. Inmate 1: For singing the national anthem I got punched in the gut!

Another inmate explained to Rep. Greene that his toilet did not work and that he was forced to hold his bladder for long periods of time until he could use a bathroom in another cell in the wing:

Rep. Greene: Your toilet doesn’t work? Where do you use the restroom?

Inmate: I got to wait to come out and come down to this cell down here.

Rep. Greene: Oh, my goodness.

Another conversation involved inmates singing “God Bless America” in their cells in early June 2021, and the retaliation from jail guards:

Inmate: On June 1, 2021, we [the inmates] sang “God Bless America” at 11:45 p.m. and Corporal Holmes, who was not normally stationed there, into their area and told us to “shut the fuck up.” We replied that we were singing “God Bless America” and the guard replied, “fuck America” and then went up to one cell, turned his camera off and said he would ‘beat his ass’ (referring to the inmate). The guard came back at 4:30 a.m. on June 2 taunting and harassing us… We wrote multiple grievances about this officer, and they were all returned by the guard himself.

After speaking with many of the inmates, Congresswoman Greene made the following statement to them:

Office of Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene (GA-14)

I was upset about the riot on January 6. I don’t call it an insurrection—it wasn’t—but I was upset. But I’m here because I really, truly am worried that you all are being treated poorly and it’s a human rights abuse and it’s an abuse of your civil rights and you should be presumed innocent before proven guilty. And I believe in a good justice system and that you should be treated fairly, just like the rest of the people here that I saw tonight who are really being treated very well.

I think that should be extended to every single person regardless of politics or skin color or what you’re being charged with. We’ve heard terrible things and I want you to know that Congressman Gohmert and I have basically refused to back down on this issue.

The America we know is not a racist country. We want people to be receiving fairness in the justice system.

After approximately 40 minutes of discussion, Congresswoman Greene asked everyone to huddle in a circle. The January 6 inmates locked arms in a wide circle which included staff from the congressional offices, Rep. Gohmert, and Mr. Kinlow.

As the group gathered, Congresswoman Greene made the following remarks:

Rep. Greene: It was important to see the entire jail. Now that we’ve seen all of it, I think we’ve learned a lot of things that we needed to know. I have to tell you as a Christian and a fellow American citizen, I don’t believe that anyone should be abused simply because of their skin color, or their political views or their religious views or their religion.

It’s wrong to abuse people. We all have our civil rights and they need to be protected. And here’s something else you need to know: It’s a hard time for all of you and it’s a hard time for most people, especially being incarcerated, but don’t lose hope. Don’t lose hope.

Inmates: NEVER!

Rep. Greene: You know who you are, a child of God, and He loves every single one of you. He made you and He formed you and He knew you before you were born, and that’s the greatest gift. He’s got a plan for every single one of us. You know you’re not forgotten; you’re appreciated. And you’re loved, and your families love you. They miss you and your friends love you. And many people talk about you and pray for you. And I think if anything, we can come through this time in our country, hopefully we can all come back together, and we’re not divided by that.

I want to pray for everyone here. [prayer]

Following the prayer, DOC staff began asking inmates to return to the door of their cells for lights-out at 10 p.m. Mr. Kinlow expressed to one member of Rep. Greene’s staff that it was “recommended” that the delegation leave before 10 p.m.

Office of Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene (GA-14)

As the time with the inmates came to an end, DOC staff announced to the inmates that the inmates had 3 minutes before the time with Representatives and staff would conclude. Approximately 30 seconds later, DC DOC staff began trying to break up the huddle of inmates showing Reps. Greene and Gohmert video footage from January 6. The immediate attempt to end this revelation prompted one of the inmates to respond, “That was a quick 30 seconds.”

As DC DOC staff slowly escorted the congressional delegation out of the room, the January 6 detainees began a “U-S-A!” chant followed by a “LETS-GO-BRANDON!” chant.

As the doors closed ominously, the delegation was quickly led through the CTF back toward the CDF, and the jail entrance.

Exit from the Facility via the CTF and CDF (10:00 p.m. – 10:15 p.m.)

During this time, Reps. Greene and Gohmert thanked the staff of the Department of Corrections and the Mayor’s Office for allowing the delegation to see the January 6 detainees. As the delegation returned to the exit of the jail, Reps. Greene and Gohmert continued to ask personal questions to the DC DOC staff about their tenure at the facility and expressed their appreciation for the tour.

Staff and Members exited the facility at approximately 10:15 p.m.

Office of Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene (GA-14)

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.

Since the Marshals Service has already declared a portion of the facility unhospitable for more than 400 inmates, and the D.C. Mayor’s Office has already signed a memorandum of understanding with the Marshals admitting that there is a need to correct certain problems, clearly more work remains to improve inmate conditions throughout the jail.

Office of Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene (GA-14)

The delegation of Representatives and staff that toured the facility on the evening of November 4 offer this report to support the basic dignity of January 6 inmates and others throughout the D.C. jail who continue to be unreasonably mistreated.