DOJ probes DC jails where dozens convicted in J6 where held, over 'constitutional rights' issues

The Justice Department has notified the District of Columbia that the agency has opened an investigation into the city's correctional facilities, where as many as 50 people convicted in connection with the Jan. 2021 Capitol riot were being held. 

The agency notified the city's Department of Corrections on Monday and said the probe will focus on whether it "engages in a pattern or practice of violating prisoners’ and detainees’ constitutional rights."

The probe follows allegations including the department failed to protect those behind bars from the "use of excessive force, failing to provide adequate medical care, failing to provide safe and sanitary physical conditions of confinement, and failing to provide adequate nutrition," according to the DOJ's letter to the city officials.

“The Constitution protects the rights of every incarcerated American, including those held in custody in our nation’s capital,” said Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. 

“We are committed to upholding our federal civil rights laws so that no inmate is confined in unconstitutional conditions or subject to unconstitutional mistreatment at the District of Columbia Department of Corrections.”

The letter sent by the DOJ, which was also addressed to outgoing Democratic Mayor Buriel Bowser, stated such allegations also were included in a report by the District's own auditor.

President Donald Trump in January 2025 issued executive pardons and commutations for about 1,500 people charged or convicted in connection to the riot. Twenty of them were reportedly in D.C. jails when the pardon was issued.