by WorldTribune Staff, October 22, 2026 — Real World News
Washington, DC jails in which Jan. 6 protesters were held are under investigation for allegedly engaging in “a pattern of practice violating prisoners’ and detainees’ constitutional rights,” the Department of Justice said.
The DC Jail
In a letter to city officials, the Justice Department notified the city’s Department of Corrections of the investigation on Monday, saying allegations include the department’s failure to protect those behind bars from the “use of excessive force, failing to provide adequate medical care, failing to provide safe and sanitary physical conditions of confinement, and failing to provide adequate nutrition.”
“The Constitution protects the rights of every incarcerated American, including those held in custody in our nation’s capital,” said Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division.
“We are committed to upholding our federal civil rights laws so that no inmate is confined in unconstitutional conditions or subject to unconstitutional mistreatment at the District of Columbia Department of Corrections.”
The letter sent by the DOJ, which was also addressed to outgoing Democrat Mayor Buriel Bowser, stated such allegations also were included in a report by the District’s own auditor.
Jailed J6 protesters complained of squalid conditions in DC prisons and mistreatment by correctional officers.
“They’ve been beaten by the guards. They are called white supremacists. They also told us they are denied medical treatment,” ex-Rep. Marjorie Taylor Green, Georgia Republican, said in December 2021.
Federal prosecutors in the Biden Administration charged more than 1,500 people in connection with the Capitol riot, and hundreds served time in jail or federal prison.
President Donald Trump in January 2025 issued executive pardons and commutations for about 1,500 people charged or convicted in connection to the Jan. 6, 2021 protest at the U.S. Capitol. Twenty of them were reportedly in DC jails when the pardon was issued.
The investigation also follows a new lawsuit from a group of inmates who said they found rodents, including mice, in DC jailhouse food.
The inmates reported the contaminated food, but the DC Office of Corrections dismissed their complaints and accused them of making it all up, according to the lawsuit.
“For decades, but at least since July 2023, the District of Columbia has been on notice of these systemic failures … yet has failed to implement any meaningful reforms to reflect the health and safety of individuals in its custody,” the lawsuit said.
