After touring the jail where January 6 inmates were being held, descriptions of the conditions differed widely between Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s (R-Ga.) account and the two Democratic lawmakers on the tour.
The trip to the D.C. jail was led by Greene and offered to lawmakers on the House Oversight and Accountability Committee.
The reason for the trip, according to Greene — who last visited the D.C. jail in November 2021 — was to address the “human rights abuse” January 6 inmates experienced.
When she emerged from the facility, Greene asserted that her concerns were confirmed, describing what January 6 prisoners were subjected to as “a two-tier justice system,” whether they were treated differently to “other charged defendants and inmates.”
Calling the group “political prisoners,” Greene told reporters how the men had their “due process rights… violated,” were “denied medical treatment,” and shared stories about being “threatened with rape and guards laughing about it.”
The Georgia Republican acknowledged that since she last visited, there had been “some changes,” primarily that the facilities were cleaner, but lamented that the inmates were the ones that had to clean and paint, all within a week before the lawmakers’ tour.
However, the two Democrats on the tour shared a different story.
Rep. Robert Garcia (D-CA.) told MSNBC’s “Deadline: White House” that inmates were being “treated quite fairly,” adding that they have 24-hour access to medical treatment and “tablets for entertainment,” in addition to having communication with their family.
Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas), who worked as a public defender and was licensed in Texas, Arkansas, and in federal courts, also lamented Greene’s misrepresentation of the facilities.
Crockett shared that she witnessed “privilege,” describing it as “quite astonishing.”
