On this cold January night, there are about 50 people in the triangle park across from the DC Central Detention Facility (CDF), the brown building colloquially known as DC Jail. Upbeat music plays on a loudspeaker, and some of them dancing or singing. About a dozen of of the press look on.
Most of the bundled of demonstrators don MAGA hats, some hold signs saying “Pardon All J6 Hostages on Day One.” A few carry American flags.
The demonstrators are there to those charged for the involvement in the January 6th, 2021 insurrection at the Capitol Building, who were immediately pardoned upon Donald Trump’s inauguration. Around two dozen of the nearly 1600 charged and later, pardoned, were being held at the DC Jail.
“You’ve got factually innocent people that have suffered, and I think it’s incumbent on mankind to care for their fellow countrymen and women,” said David Clemens, one of the demonstrators, who came all the way from New Mexico.
Delay Angers ers
Their demonstration has been a mix of celebration and protest. The inmates charged in the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection were not released immediately after President Trump issued pardons. Two brothers who pled guilty to assaulting police officers including with a chemical irritant were the first to be released from DC Jail, at just about 11 p.m. Monday night. However, into early Tuesday night, many of the 20 or so Jan. 6 inmates housed at the jail had not been released, much to the chagrin of demonstrators.
Colorado Representative Lauren Boebert (R) ed the rally on Tuesday to demand that the inmates, who she referred to as “hostages,” were released. “These men have already paid too much time,” she said, before saying that she would offer them a tour of the Capitol Building once released, The Hill reported.
The protestors were angry with the delay, with many blaming it on DC leadership. Ally Rose, a protester from Arkansas, said she has multiple friends who were jailed for their actions storming the Capitol. “I think the mayor of DC is showing that the deep state is still in control and we the people are here to show her it’s not going to work,” she said. Clemens said, “I think people are trying to test the limits of Donald Trump’s power . . . I don’t know why it’s so hard to get people out [of jail] in the District of Columbia.”
But District Mayor Muriel Bowser’s office is not involved in coordinating the release of inmates, the office confirmed Tuesday.
Federal Pardon, Federal Process
In fact the majority of the process has nothing to do with District government, let alone the mayor. The prosecutor, courts and law enforcement are all federal agencies. Only the DOC, which runs the prison, is run by the District.
The DOC independently confirmed that the process of releasing inmates does not involve the Mayor’s office. A DOC spokesperson explained the process for releasing sentenced inmates requires the Office of the President to send pardons to the US District Court. The District Court then issues release notices to the US Marshals Service (USMS), which will then send the notices to the DOC. DOC will process the notices and only then can the DOC release the inmate to the USMS for transport.
Releasing pre-trial detainees requires a slightly different process. In that case, the US Attorney’s Office (USAO) must submit a motion for dismissal to the US District Court, which would then issue and transmit an order of dismissal and a release order to the USMS. The Marshals then send the order to DOC, which then processes the order and releases the individual.
For a few days, DC did not have a US Attorney. The former US Attorney for DC, Matthew Graves, was appointed by President Biden in 2021 and led the January 6 cases. He resigned effective Jan. 6, 2025. President Trump appointed Edward R. Martin as interim US Attorney effective Monday, Jan. 20. Martin, who defended some of the accused in court, quickly moved to implement the process.
The only part of the process related to the DC government is when the Department of Corrections (DOC) receives and processes notices and finally, releases inmates. It seems the delay can simply be attributed to the many steps of processing pardons.
A few January 6th inmates still remain in the DC Jail, but the exact number isn’t clear. DOC said, “Thus far, we have processed the release of a number of detainees and will continue to immediately release detainees to the USMS as we receive additional release orders.”
Smaller protests on the triangle of grass on Massachusetts Avenue across from the jail – dubbed “freedom corner” by Trump ers – have been taking place more than two years. A handful have been demonstrating regularly since August 2022, holding a nightly vigil for the arrested insurrectionists and Ashli Babbitt – a woman who was shot and killed by a police officer in the Capitol Building Jan. 6.
Celebration
Despite the discontent with the timing of the inmates’ releases, the demonstration has also been a celebration of Trump’s inauguration. Brad Enlow from Kentucky said, “Daddy’s home. . . [Trump] absolutely trashed [Joe Biden and Kamala Harris] yesterday when he was giving his speech, and I loved it.”
Local neighbors are not so thrilled about the presence of the recent demonstrations. Some protesters had parked their cars in the streets surrounding “freedom corner” and on the grass on the block. Many of the vehicles have since been ticketed or towed by 311.A resident who lives close to the jail said that while walking their dog in the Congressional Cemetery, which sits next to the jail, “there’s been a lot of times where I’ve been afraid that they would do something to us walking by. And it’s a reminder of what happened.”
To many Capitol Hill residents, the wounds of January 6th – when the neighborhood became the site of an attempted coup – are still hurting. Having the insurrectionists pardoned from a jail and met with raucous ers inside the neighborhood adds salt to the wound. In a statement posted to Instagram, Councilmember Charles Allen (6-D) said “The blanket pardon of those who attacked the Capitol, our officers, and our neighbors on January 6, 2021, feels deeply personal for Ward 6. Whether it’s the thousands of people who work in the Capitol, the responding officers with more than 140 injured that day, or the families who feared for their loved ones – [they] all deserve better.”
Another nearby resident said, “it’s added a level of instability and negativity to the neighborhood that just made it feel unsafe.”
The demonstrators have encountered some opposition. In a clip that made the rounds on social media, demonstrators got in an argument with a erby. “Who committed a crime,” a protester yelled at the woman. “It is a crime when you attack the Capitol and kill people,” she responded. The argument ended with a launching of expletives in both directions. Monday night involved some scuffling as Trump ers and counter-protesters met at the doors of the prison before being moved back across Massachusetts Avenue by police.
Many demonstrators traveled to DC from far away. Nat Baker from California said, “I was supposed to leave [DC] yesterday but my flight was canceled. So I decided to come down here for one more night.” Baker, who wears the ashes of Ashlei Babbitt in a necklace, said he “wanted to be [at the DC jail] for the historical moment.”
Those standing outside of the jail also stand by with the actions of J6ers. Many described the events of Jan. 6, 2021 – the first time the Capitol was breached since the War of 1812 – as a peaceful protest, despite the many charges of violent behavior that followed. Demonstrators denied the claim that police officers died as a result, despite the death of US Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick, who died of injuries sustained defending the Capitol, and the death of four more from suicide.
“We know that through the Horowitz Inspector General Report that we had embedded agents throughout the crowd who were agent provocateurs,” said Clemens, who points to this as evidence of entrapment. The Horowitz Report, written by the Justice Department and released in December 2024, does acknowledge the presence of FBI informants in DC on January 6th but denied claims that agents provoked anyone to storm the Capitol. Nevertheless, January 6th sympathizers seem to be sure of their version of events: that the insurrectionists were peaceful and did nothing wrong, and that the 2020 Election was stolen.
With a few January 6th inmates left in the DC Jail, the crowd has remained. “I imagine there’ll be an element of people that will be here every night until every last J6 hostage is free,” said Clemens.
The title of this article was changed shortly after publication.
