Capitol Protesters 'Severely Beaten' By DC Jail Guards Who Allegedly Said They 'Hate All White People'

Tensions are running high between guards and inmates at a D.C. jail housing many of the defendants in Jan. 6 cases, with at least one of those prisoners alleging that he was brutally beaten by correctional officers.

For weeks, Capitol riot defendants being held in Washington have complained that they are locked in their cells with virtually no human contact for 23 hours a day. But a startling, graphic account offered publicly in court on Tuesday by one such inmate, Ronald Sandlin, went further: alleging that guards have subjected those charged in the Jan. 6 events to violence, threats and verbal harassment.

"Myself and others involved in the Jan. 6 incident are scared for their lives, not from each other but from correctional officers," Sandlin said during a bail hearing conducted by video before U.S. District Court Judge Dabney Friedrich. "I don't understand how this is remotely acceptable," he added, saying he was being subjected to "mental torture."

In an unusual direct plea to the judge, Sandlin said another Capitol riot defendant, Ryan Samsel, "was severely beaten by correctional officers, [is now] blind in one eye, has a skull fracture and detached retina."

A lawyer for Capitol riot defendant Ryan Samsel says he zip-tied and beaten by a CO at the DC jail on March 21.
The lawyer says the DOC and FBI are looking into the incident. pic.twitter.com/R3M8lk8zMg

— Alan Feuer (@alanfeuer) April 6, 2021

Sandlin also described racial tension between minority guards and the largely white defendants, some of whom have been publicly accused of membership in or association with white supremacist groups.

Sandlin said guards tackled "to the ground" one high-profile prisoner, Richard Barnett, 60, who was photographed with his boot up on a desk in Speaker Nancy Pelosi's office. Sandlin said one of the guards declared, "I hate all white people and your honky religion."

The BIGGEST story, that nobody’s talking abt. American citizens are detained in prison indefinitely on non-violent charges (7:40 mark); American citizens are beaten, tortured and blinded by prison guards (10:20 mark). We became a Third World country

https://t.co/s889A4dhvQ

— KayZee (@KatyKayZee) April 7, 2021