Proud Boys leader denied early release from jail

A judge has denied a request from the leader of the alt-right Proud Boys to be released from jail early, The Washington Post reported.

Henry “Enrique” Tarrio had asked a judge to place him on home confinement, citing inhumane conditions earlier this month. 

However, the judge ruled that poor living conditions in the jail are not a sufficient reason for Tarrio to be transferred to home confinement, according to the Post.

Tarrio is serving a five-month sentence for stealing and burning a Black Lives Matter banner from a D.C. church in December.

D.C. Superior Court Judge Jonathan H. Pittman wrote on Friday that he believed Tarrio’s allegations about his experience at the jail regarding unsanitary conditions and mistreatment.

Pittman also acknowledged that the D.C. Department of Corrections “admits that much of what the defendant has claimed did in fact occur.”

However, he added that Tarrio didn’t prove any “extraordinary and compelling reasons” for why he deserves early release when compared to the other inmates at the jail or that he’s vulnerable inside the correctional facility. 

At a Nov. 15 hearing, Tarrio asked that his sentence be reduced to 90 days or that he be allowed to finish it under house arrest. He has served half of his five-month sentence, the Post noted.

“I’ve been to jail before and what I’ve seen here, I’ve never seen anywhere else,” Tarrio told Pittman in November. “This place needs to be shut down immediately.”

Tarrio said that he endured abuse from correctional officers, medicinal neglect and has been subjected to unsanitary conditions. He said that his cell is regularly flooded with dirty toilet water from a nearby cell, according to NBC News.
 
He also detailed an incident in which a prisoner had a seizure and was left to lay there for a half-hour before any medical help arrived. Tarrio called the conditions at the jail “insane,” referring to it as a “gulag.”

Tarrio’s lawyer, Lucas I. Dansie, also said at the hearing that his “meals are literally thrown in his cell, cold and frequently inedible.”

The D.C. Department of Corrections did not immediately respond to The Hill’s request for comment.

The D.C. jail has had numerous suits filed against it by Jan. 6 defendants, which led to a surprise U.S. Marshals Service inspection in October.

Tags D.C. D.C. Superior Court Proud Boys

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