Proud Boys leader seeks early release, citing jail conditions
LA TimesComplaining about jail conditions, a leader of the Proud Boys far-right extremist group on Monday asked a judge to free him before he finishes serving a five-month sentence for burning a Black Lives Matter banner taken from a historic Black church in Washington, D.C. D.C. Superior Court Judge Jonathan Pittman said Monday he would rule by the end of the week on whether to reduce Proud Boys chairman Henry “Enrique” Tarrio’s sentence to 90 days. Tarrio’s complaints about jail conditions in Washington mirror those of several prisoners charged in the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol. In October, a federal judge held the District of Columbia’s corrections director and jail warden in contempt of court and asked the Justice Department to investigate whether inmates’ civil rights were being abused. Police said officers found two unloaded firearm magazines emblazoned with the Proud Boys logo in Tarrio’s bag when they arrested him on Jan. 4.