Henry 'Enrique' Tarrio, Proud Boys Leader, Pleads For Early Prison Release Due To 'Inhumane' Conditions
Nov. 16 2021, Published 1:50 p.m. ET
Henry “Enrique” Tarrio, a top leader of the far-right extremist group the Proud Boys who was arrested in January, is asking a D.C. judge to grant him an early release from prison due to poor jail conditions.
Tarrio is serving a five-month prison sentence because he stole then proceeded to burn a Black Lives Matter banner from a historic Washington D.C. Black church last December, according to The Associated Press.
The extremist group leader was arrested by authorities on January 4, and subsequently pleaded guilty to both the destruction of property and an attempted possession of a large-capacity ammunition feeding device.
According to Tarrio, he is requesting an early release from prison due to harassment as well as “inhumane jail conditions.”
“I’ve been to jail before and what I’ve seen here, I’ve never seen anywhere else,” Tarrio told the D.C. Superior Court Judge Jonathan Pittman during his request via video Monday. “This place needs to be shut down immediately.”
The Proud Boy then went into detail describing the things he witnessed in jail, such as abusive guards, medical neglect, and even one instance where he allegedly watched another inmate suffer from a seizure for nearly thirty minutes before any assistance showed up to help.
“I’m deathly afraid that something is going to happen to me,” Tarrio added in.
But even though the judge listened to Tarrio’s request for an early release, sources familiar with Monday’s video call reportedly told the outlet that Judge Pittman’s tone during the request seemed consistently skeptical.
Nonetheless, the judge reportedly did state that he would announce by the end of this week whether or not he will grant Tarrio his request and reduce the far-right extremist’s prison sentence down to only 90 days.
Judge Pittman also did not ignore Tarrio’s alleged experiences of mistreatment in the D.C. prison, but he did focus on whether or not Tarrio was the only inmate being mistreated, or if every inmate was receiving the treatment.
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“It is obviously distressing to hear of these conditions,” the judge said Monday. “I come back to the same question: How is Mr. Tarrio’s condition any different than any other inmate at the jail?”
Judge Pittman will make a decision by the end of this week to whether or not grant Tarrio his request for an early release.
