Henry “Enrique” Tarrio, the leader of the far right group known as the Proud Boys, is currently serving a five-month prison sentence but has asked a judge to release him early because of the terrible prison conditions.
Henry “Enrique” Tarrio is serving a five-month sentence for stealing and burning a Black Lives Matter banner from a historic Black church in the capital, after Donald Trump’s election defeat.
On Monday, Tarrio asked a judge to release him, arguing that he has been exposed to inhumane conditions.
Asking that his sentence be reduced or that he be allowed to complete it under house arrest, he claimed to have been harassed by correctional officers and said his cell regularly floods with dirty water from a toilet in a neighboring cell.
…Tarrio described abusive guards, smoke-filled hallways and medical neglect, saying he witnessed a prisoner have a seizure who lay for a half hour before help arrived.
…According to his attorney, Tarrio has endured “serious abuses of his rights on a daily basis”, including jail employees repeatedly ignoring his requests for medical treatment, throwing cold, often inedible meals into his cell and denying access to running water.
“Mr Tarrio has been intimidated and antagonized by correctional staff to dissuade him from making complaints about the horrendous conditions,” Tarrio’s attorney, Luca Dansie, wrote.
Tarrio is hardly a sympathetic figure except to those on the far-right but that does not mean that he deserves to be subjected to the terrible conditions that exist in many US prisons. Nobody does. The fact that he is a high profile figure with access to the media has the benefit of bringing these conditions into the public eye. Perhaps prison reform is one issue where both the left and the right can get together and actually achieve something worthwhile. It is long overdue.