Prisoners Welcomed J6er

Stewart Parks, who was wrongfully imprisoned on Jan. 6 and released from a Nashville halfway house last week, officially marking his release from federal custody, spoke at length about his experiences of nearly six months in a federal prison in an exclusive interview with The Michael Patrick Leahy Show on Monday.

Parks was sentenced to three years in prison in November 2023 for misdemeanor trespassing, disorderly conduct and theft by D.C. Circuit Court Judge Amit P. Mehta, who has presided over multiple trials related to the January 6 Capitol riots. However, Parks served his sentence concurrently, reducing his sentence to eight months behind bars.

Although Parks had no criminal or violent record, he was ordered to serve his sentence at the Federal Correctional Institution (FCI) in Memphis rather than a minimum-security satellite camp.

After serving more than five months of his eight-month sentence at FCI Memphis, where he self-reported on February 7, Parks was officially released from federal custody on August 5 following his release from a Nashville halfway house.

Recalling the day he surrendered at FCI Memphis, Stewart said prison staff branded him as part of the “Trump gang” because he was a J6 inmate.

“When I first walked in there, it was funny. I walked in and I was wearing a suit, dressed up … and they didn’t even realize it was me. They thought it was my dad dressed down. So they were just shocked that I was there. So they took me to the regular screening and they were photographing me, seeing if I had any tattoos. I remember at one point they asked, ‘Are you in a gang?’ And I said no, and then they said, ‘Oh, you’re in the Trump gang,'” Parks said.

Parks said that because he was a J6 prisoner, he initially thought he would not be well received by the other prisoners. However, he was surprised by the warm reception he eventually received.

“I say this in the most humble terms: I was truly shocked by the reception by the prisoners,” Parks said.

More here from the Tennessee Star