Jailed Jan. 6 rioters form "Patriot wing" in D.C. prison and communicate via newsletter

Extremism experts worry the bonding experience is only furthering their radicalization

Published October 21, 2021 5:26PM (EDT)

The Proud Boys outside the US Capitol in Washington, DC on Wednesday, January 6, 2021. (Amanda Andrade-Rhoades/For The Washington Post via Getty Images)
The Proud Boys outside the US Capitol in Washington, DC on Wednesday, January 6, 2021. (Amanda Andrade-Rhoades/For The Washington Post via Getty Images)

This article originally appeared on Raw Story

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Jailed supporters of former President Donald Trump who participated in the January 6th Capitol riots have banded together at the D.C. Correctional Treatment Facility to form a so-called "Patriot Wing" of the prison.

Vice News reports that the jailed MAGA rioters are creating their own newsletters that they pass around amongst themselves and that they sing "The Star Spangled Banner" to one another every night at 9 p.m.

While details like this may seem amusing, Vice News interviewed some extremism experts who say that the MAGA rioters' bonding experience is likely only furthering their radicalization.


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"I do think the fact that the J6 defendants who are currently being held pre-trial... having them all together where they can seemingly communicate by newsletter, is likely to foster continued feelings of anti-government mentality among those individuals who are being prosecuted," Jonathan Lewis, a research fellow at the George Washington University's Program on Extremism, tells the publication.

Added to this, the MAGA rioters being held at the facility are the ones that judges deemed too dangerous to be let out ahead of their trials, including members of the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers, as well as rioters accused of the most violent assaults on Capitol Police officers.

Read the whole report here.


By Brad Reed

MORE FROM Brad Reed


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Capitol Riot Extremism Insurrection Jail January 6 Politics Prison Raw Story