The January Sixers Have Their Own Unit at the DC Jail. Here's What Life Is Like Inside [View all]

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Andrew Beaujon
@abeaujon
I spent a lot of last fall reporting on what life is actually like for the January 6 prisoners in the D.C. Jail. You can read what I found here:

The January Sixers Have Their Own Unit at the DC Jail. Here's What Life Is Like Inside
They’ve got their own internal justice system for problem-solving—and a Sunday comedy ritual.
washingtonian.com
5:52 AM · Jan 5, 2022

https://www.washingtonian.com/2022/01/05/the-january-sixers-have-their-own-unit-at-the-dc-jail-heres-what-life-is-like-inside/

*snip*

Just as some of the Sixers were shocked to learn that the election couldn’t simply be overturned, some of the detainees seem surprised that jail food is bad. “Definitely a lack of fruit and vegetables,” Fellows says. “Like, it’s on MyPlate.gov: We’re supposed to get a daily serving of fruit and vegetables and actual good greens.” There’s a lot of white bread, and almost always bologna and cheese for dinner. “On Thanksgiving,” sniffs DeGrave, “we got turkey bologna.”

Sixers who want iPad time and have funds to spend get to use tablets to read the news. Everyone is allowed to watch TV, and they followed the Virginia governor’s race like college-football fans. But they don’t tune the thing only to conservative outlets. The local DC news is a go-to, plus Storage Wars, Hardcore Pawn, and, whenever possible, The Bachelor, The Bachelorette, or The Bachelor in Paradise. Says DeGrave: “All the Bachelors.”

On Sundays, everyone looks forward to “The Hope-ium Den.” The Hope-ium Den? “Where we all get together and put on a show,” DeGrave says. “There’s comedy shows and there’s skits, and some people get up and sing or share lyrics or read poetry.” Sometimes the songs poke gentle fun at fellow inmates. Emcee Jeff McKellop (accused of throwing a flagpole at a cop “similar in fashion to throwing a spear”; he has pleaded not guilty) hosts, using a mop handle as a microphone. Edward Jacob Lang—accused of hitting cops with a baseball bat—is a regular performer. (Lang was the guy who posted a January 6 photo of a group overwhelming police, which he finger-emoji-captioned, “THIS IS ME”; he has also pleaded not guilty.)

Grooming is . . . problematic. No vax? No entry at the barbershop. One option is to go for the cue-ball look: Fellows and DeGrave say the Sixers have recently been given hair-removal cream, either Nair or Magic Cream Shave, a product that’s supposed to provide depilation without razor bumps. “You have to lather it on and then wait about, like, five minutes,” Fellows says, “and then you’ve got to rip it out. So that’s pretty painful. And leaves, like, a sunburn-like burn on your face or head for, like, a day or two.” One attorney told me that the Sixers get access to fingernail clippers every few weeks. Some use them to cut their hair.

*snip*