Congressional representatives set October 6 deadline for BOP to explain solitary confinement of J6 prisoner of conscience

House members Matt Gaetz (R-FL), Dr. Paul Gosar (R-AZ) and Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), have sent a rare request to the Bureau of Prisons (BOP) to explain its unusual and harsh treatment of political prisoner John Strand, who serves as America's Frontline Doctors (AFLDS) Creative Director.

Inexplicable placement

The BOP overrode its own scoring system (in which Strand received the lowest possible security threat rating he could achieve — negative 1 on a scale of -1 to +45), as well as the presiding judge's recommendation for prison placement, when it refused to place Strand in a minimum security federal prison camp. Judge Christopher Cooper, though handing Strand an extraordinarily long prison sentence after refusing to recuse himself from the case despite strong evidence of a conflict of interest, agreed that Strand should be housed in a minimum security camp. The judge even specified the name of the recommended minimum security camp — the Federal Prison Camp (FPC) Pensacola — in the official protocol of Strand's sentencing hearing:

Instead of the recommended minimum security camp, the BOP assigned Strand to serve his 32-month sentence at a Federal Correctional Institution, which Prison Finder describes as an incarceration site for inmates with histories of violence:

Unlike the minimum security prisons, inmates in low security tend to have some history of violence. The prisons are enclosed with fences. Prisoners usually have [up to] 20 years left to serve.

Strand, a model citizen with no history of violence or aggressiveness, was nonetheless placed with prisoners who do have such histories. In addition to being exposed to potential violence, Strand faces severe restrictions that are placed on everyone assigned to that prison as the prison conditions reflect the level of violence expected from the inmates.

Inexplicable treatment 

Since the end of August, Strand has been in solitary confinement, with no end date provided by BOP officials, all while being denied phone and email privileges and being prohibited from contacting his lawyer. Strand was told that the isolation was due to a violation of prison policy. 

Specifically, Strand mentioned his wake-up time to a friend who had inquired about his day, which led to that friend including the wake-up time in a social media post, a post discovered by BOP officials presumably dedicating a great deal of time to searching the internet for posts connected to Strand. This punishment was, notably, the result of a top-down order, as Strand's case manager did not recommend any length of solitary confinement for the post. That recommendation had to be overruled for Strand to be placed in isolation. Also of note, the isolation order came shortly after Strand granted a telephone interview from the prison, though the interview itself did not violate any prison rules.

J6 treatment?

Strand was prosecuted for an unknowing trespass, entering through the open doors of a government building, not having passed any “no trespass” signs and not having entered any room in which government proceedings were taking place. For his 48 minutes in the Capitol building (about half of which were spent trying to leave the crowded space), Strand is serving nearly three years in prison with violent offenders, with nearly a month of that time in isolation.

Solitary confinement, which has been shown to cause not only mental illness but physiological changes in the brain, is considered a drastic punishment usually reserved for cases of inmate assaults and other grave violations of prison policy. Even then, the punishment is usually limited to 15 days. 

Strand's treatment may be compared to that of sexual offenders, of whom only about 2.5% ever spend a day in jail, according to a Yale Law School study.

The disparate punishment  is reflective of government policy. As USA Today reported, government agents have been moved off of child sex predator cases and onto the trespass cases of January 6, though the paper chose to refer to the trespasses as a “deadly insurrection”:

[A]gents in all but one of the FBI’s 56 field offices have been drafted to track down those who participated in the deadly insurrection. Investigators who typically work cases involving the trafficking of drugs, child pornography and sex have taken calls from rioter’s angry ex-wives and former girlfriends and employers turned tipsters. They’ve mined tens of thousands of photos and videos. They followed trails rioters left on social media. [Emphases added].

Congressional hearings on weaponized BOP?

In July, even before the BOP moved Strand to isolation, Rep. Gosar inquired of Federal Bureau of Prisons Director Colette Peters, as to the inexplicable placement of Strand. Now, with Strand in solitary confinement indefinitely, Reps. Gaetz and Greene have joined Gosar in calling on Peters to formally explain Strand's treatment. 

Gaetz noted from the outset how Strand's extraordinary treatment brought led him to the unusual step of inquiring about BOP policies: 

In spite of numerous requests by defense attorneys and others, I have never once written to the BOP requesting a prisoner transfer into my district’s minimum security facility at Pensacola. But I do so now, on behalf of John Strand. 

In addition to record evidence related to Strand’s extremely low risk and non-violent underlying charges, I bring to your attention Strand’s cooperation with the federal Congress during our investigations. In fact, he was instrumental in testifying before a field hearing in which myself, and the undersigned, as well as other members of Congress, participated. 

… I suspect that a review of Strand’s behavior during his term incarcerated since late July would further support our request for his transfer. 

… please do provide my office with some response by October 6, 2023, whether that response is an up, a down, or a request for more time to consider.

If Peters chooses to ignore this follow-up letter to Gosar's initial inquiry, the next step could entail a congressional investigation into the weaponization of the BOP, an agency which is, of course, not permitted to consider political beliefs in determining the treatment of those incarcerated. Such an investigation would enable congressional representatives to subpoena officials like Peters to testify under oath about how Strand and others wound up being treated differently than trespassers with different political beliefs. 

Advocates for non-violent prisoners may welcome such hearings as an opportunity to address solitary confinement in general and to hear from experts on whether isolation, together with long sentences for non-violent crimes and various prison conditions, violates treaties against torture or the Eighth Amendment protection from cruel and unusual  punishment. The Eight Amendment states:

Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.

Citizen involvement

At the same time that congressional representatives are demanding answers from the BOP, AFLDS Citizen Corps is asking Americans to join in the push to get Strand out of isolation.

 Be A Voice For John Strand 

This is a CALL TO ACTION! 

Since July 25th 2023, our friend and colleague, John Strand, has been a political prisoner in the United States of America. 

He has been moved into isolation for doing an interview from inside the prison.

How You Can Help: Please write the Warden’s assistant and demand the isolation stop immediately! MIA-ExecAssistant-S@bop.gov.

They put out a sample letter to send to the warden's assistant at MIA-ExecAssistant-S@bop.gov and provided a phone number as well: 305-259-2100.

See our previous article on Strand, Dr. Gold and weaponized law enforcement 

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