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Dem rep has A LOT to say about ‘coddled’ J6 prisoners BEFORE scheduled visit to jailhouse

March 24, 2023 | | Print Article

U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas) sneered at “coddled” January 6 protesters, ostensibly being held as political prisoners, who are complaining about the conditions they are suffering under as she and Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Calif.) join Republicans in visiting the prison where they are being kept on Friday.

(Video Credit: MSNBC)

Crockett is blasting the protesters ahead of a congressional visit to the DC jail where they are being held that is headed by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.)

She appeared on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” on Friday to rip the prisoners before she even sees what conditions they are being held under. She said that her goal was to provide a “counter” to whatever Greene and other Republicans claim they see.

“We need to make sure someone is there to tell an actual account of what the historical nature of this visit,” she commented.

Greene is calling those jailed for the protest at the Capitol that day “political prisoners.”

Crockett laughed at the prisoners, asserting that they are being “coddled.” She slammed them for being called “political prisoners” as well. She did admit that she still needs to witness the conditions for herself but that was mostly an afterthought which her comments made evident.

“They know nothing about what bad conditions are and I’m going to clarify that after I can see with my own two eyes, but in the state of Texas, we don’t even have air conditioning in our prisons and we are once again in the state of Texas so we’ve had inmates die from overheating,” she remarked.

“The idea that these folks should engage somehow in a real conversation now that January 6ers, mostly white folk, are saying that these accommodations don’t work for them when black and brown folk have been trying to have a real conversation around what prison accommodations should look like if we are just going to be humane is laughable,” Crockett snidely stated.

“So I look forward to this visit and I look forward to reporting out on the accommodations and whether or not they are subpar,” she mocked.

Crockett also ridiculed a recent recording of The Star-Spangled Banner released by the “J6 Prison Choir.” The song featured former President Trump.

“We also know that there’s some choir that they have and they’re on iTunes or something,” the representative noted. “These folk are not being treated like the average inmates.”

“[Crockett and Garcia] will cut through Republicans’ attempts to whitewash the dangerous realities of Jan. 6,” a spokesperson for House Oversight Democrats declared according to the Washington Examiner. “[The tour is] nothing more than Speaker McCarthy making good on his promise to give control of the Committee to extreme Republican voices.”

According to Axios, the spokesperson also said that Lee and Crockett “spent their careers protecting the civil rights of those who are actually marginalized.”

Greene and House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) sent a letter to Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser weeks ago requesting access to the district jails where several protesters arrested in connection to the Capitol incident are being held.

At least 20 Jan. 6 defendants are being held in Washington correctional facilities as of March 13, according to a list by the district Department of Corrections. Seventeen of those inmates are accused of assaulting law enforcement officers. Six of them have already pleaded guilty to those charges. Another two have already been convicted on assault charges.

This is not the first time that Greene has visited January 6 prisoners. She visited inmates there in November 2021 and then released a report detailing what she called “evidence of abuse and neglect.” She has long defended those being held over the protest.

“Eyewitness accounts of conditions at the DC Jail Facilities — particularly regarding the treatment of January 6 detainees — paint a picture of despair, hopelessness, and a severe abuse of justice. No prisoner in the United States should be treated in this fashion,” Greene and Comer wrote in their March 9 letter. “The Committee is concerned by reports that January 6 detainees are facing a unique form of mistreatment due to their politics and beliefs, representing potential several human rights abuses.”

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