Washington, DC – A flicker from the prison window met the cheers of the small crowd waiting outside.
The signal has become an almost nightly tradition at DC’s Central Detention Facility. As the sunlight begins to fade, the detainees inside try to flicker the lights as a signal to their supporters.
However, this gesture caused special enthusiasm among twenty people who, despite the low temperatures, gathered on the road on Sunday.
It was the night before the fourth anniversary of January 6, 2021, when thousands stormed the United States Capitol in an outstanding attempt reverse Donald Trump’s defeat in the 2020 election.
For the past nearly 900 days, a small group has gathered to show their support for those convicted in the riot, some of whom are incarcerated at the DC detention center.
Still, the spirits of those inside were high, in large part because of Trump’s election victory in November. It was an unprecedented reversal of political fortune in which the newly elected president recovered from defeat in 2020.
His second term is set to begin in just two weeks. As part of his agenda, Trump has promised pardons for those convicted of their crimes four years ago, in the attack on the Capitol.
“The energy here today was absolutely incredible,” Dominic Box, who was convicted of forcible entry and disorderly conduct, said in a call from jail.
His words were relayed by fans outside, holding a cell phone to the microphone.
Box expressed hope for Trump’s inauguration soon. “We expect these pardons to be delivered by the end of the week,” he said.
“Many men, including me, started packing our things,” he added. “Each of us will walk out this door for the last time.”
At least 1,583 people were charged in connection with the events of January 6, 2021, according to the US Department of Justice.
About 608 of them were charged with assaulting, resisting or obstructing a law enforcement officer. That includes 174 people charged with assault with a deadly weapon.
‘Political hostages’ or rebellion?
In many ways, pardoning the condemned in connection with January 6 would be the crowning achievement for Trump.
The Republican leader has long claimed, without evidence, that the 2020 election was “stolen” from him through widespread voter fraud.
Trump also faced legal punishment for his role in the January 6 attack on the US Capitol.
In a state case in Georgia and a federal case in Washington, DC, he is accused of leading a conspiracy to overturn the 2020 election. The DC case has since been dismissed, in light of his re-election.
But Trump dismissed the criminal charges as a “political witch hunt.” Drawing an analogy with his own situation, he described the sentences given to the Jan. 6 defendants — especially nonviolent offenders — as unfair.
He has at various times referred to the defendants as “political prisoners” and “hostages,” saying his administration would begin reviewing their cases “within the first hour” of his second term.
Trump’s statements underscore the different narratives that have emerged about January 6.
Trump supporters largely dismissed the riots as a mere protest, while Democrats highlighted the violence of the attack, which came as lawmakers tried to confirm the 2020 vote.
On Sunday, US President Joe Biden again described the January 6 attack as a “real threat to democracy”.
In a column for The Washington Post, Biden condemned Trump’s attempts to reframe the attack on the US Capitol as an act of patriotism.
“There is a relentless effort underway to rewrite — even erase — the history of that day,” Biden wrote. “Let me explain it as a protest that just got out of control. This did not happen.”
Some right-wing politicians and institutions have also condemned efforts to downplay the January 6 attacks.
For example, the Society for the Rule of Law, an institute founded by conservative lawyers and judges, has argued that the extraordinary nature of the attack on the US Capitol warrants harsh punishments.
“[Trump’s] Statements promising amnesty to the rioters make a mockery of the rule of law and we have condemned them in the strongest possible terms,” the group said.
‘I hope they drive me’
But for the protesters gathered outside the D.C. detention center, there was no doubt that the prosecutions were fraught with injustice.
Many accused law enforcement forces of trying to trap the rebels on January 6. Some also claimed that the violent actions of a few were used to smear everyone present.
The authorities have repeatedly refuted those claims.
In his broadcast phone call, Box repeated the oft-repeated assertion that no Capitol Police officers died as a direct result of the attack.
Capitol Police, however, say five deaths were related to the riot: one officer, Brian Sicknick, was attacked and died a day later after suffering two strokes, and four others died by suicide in the following months.
Despite this, Box described his actions on January 6 as an act of free speech, protected by the First Amendment of the US Constitution.
“Not a single January 6 defendant, whether in prison or on the FBI list or free today, has done anything but engage in activities that should have been protected by the First Amendment, address our grievances, and listen to our concerns to the world about what without a doubt a stolen election in 2020,” Box said.
Brandon Fellows, 30, is also charged in the Jan. 6 events. He spent nearly three years in a D.C. jail after prosecutors showed evidence that he entered the US Capitol through a broken window and smoked marijuana in Senator Jeff Merkley’s office.
He was later charged with contempt of court for an outburst during court proceedings.
But Fellows was released on probation, which restricts him to an 80 km (50 mile) radius around Washington, DC. He attended Sunday’s protest outside the DC detention center wearing a Make America Great Again hat, a sign of his continued support for Trump.
“I only hope so [Trump] he drives me to work, so I can leave and start my life,” Fellows said, adding that he wants to restart the tree and chimney business he ran before his arrest.
‘The extension of Donald Trump’
The nightly vigils were first started by Micki Witthoeft, the mother of Ashli Babbitt, the woman who was fatally shot by Capitol Police while trying to climb through a broken window on January 6.
Nicole Reffitt has been one of the main organizers ever since. Her husband, Guy Reffitt, was the first defendant for January 6 to be sentenced in 2022. She then moved to Washington, DC, from Texas to assist other defendants in their trials.
“When you have the sheer power of the United States government against you or your loved one, it’s a very scary feeling and very scary,” she told Al Jazeera.
Guy Reffitt was convicted of civil disorder, obstructing official proceedings and being in a prohibited building with a firearm.
A Jan. 6 video shows Reffitt, a member of the Texas Three Centers militia, saying, “I just want to see [House Speaker Nancy] Pelosi hit her head on every fucking step on the way out.” He was sentenced to almost seven years in prison.
Hoping that Trump’s reprieve is around the corner, Nicole Reffitt claims politics has distorted justice in her husband’s case.
She and her fellow protesters set up an “advent calendar” to mark the days leading up to Trump’s Jan. 20 inauguration.
“I saw half-truths and exaggerations being used as legal facts and a DC jury seeing my husband as an extension of Donald Trump,” Reffitt said. “Justice in America shouldn’t be like this.”
