Washington, DC – A flicker from the prison window was met with cheers from the small crowd waiting outside.
The signal has become a near-nightly tradition at the DC Central Detention Facility. When the sunlight starts to fade, detainees inside try to shudder the lights as a sign to their supporters.
But that gesture prompted particular ebullience among the about two dozen people gathered on the pavement on Sunday, despite the freezing temperature.
It was the night before the fourth anniversary of January 6, 2021, when thousands stormed the United States Capitol in an extraordinary attempt to overturn Donald Trump’s 2020 election loss.
For the last nearly 900 days, a small group has gathered to show their support for those convicted in the riot, some of whom are incarcerated inside the DC detention centre.
Still, the mood of those inside was high, in large part due to Trump’s November election victory. It was an unprecedented reversal of political fortune that saw the president-elect rebound from his 2020 defeat.
His second term is set to begin in just two weeks. As part of his agenda, Trump has promised pardons for those convicted for their actions four years ago, in the attack on the Capitol.
“The energy in here today was absolutely incredible,” Dominic Box, who was convicted of violent entry and disorderly conduct, said in a call from the prison.
His words were broadcast by the supporters outside, who held a mobile phone to a microphone.
Box expressed hope for Trump’s impending inauguration. “We anticipate those pardons coming down, and by the end of the week,” he said.
“Many of the men, myself included, began packing up our things,” he added. “Every single one of us will be walking out of these doors for the last time.”
At least 1,583 people have been charged in connection with the events of January 6, 2021, according to the US Department of Justice.
Approximately 608 of those were charged with assaulting, resisting, or impeding law enforcement officers. That includes 174 people charged with assault with a deadly weapon.
‘Political hostages’ or insurrection?
In many ways, pardoning those convicted in connection with January 6 would be a crowning achievement for Trump.
The Republican leader has long claimed, without evidence, that the 2020 election was “stolen” from him through widespread voter fraud.
Trump, too, has faced legal jeopardy for his role in the January 6 attack on the US Capitol.
In a state case in Georgia and a federal case in Washington, DC, he was accused of leading a conspiracy to overturn the 2020 election. The DC case has since been dismissed, in light of his re-election.
But Trump has dismissed the criminal charges as a “political witch hunt”. Drawing an analogy with his own situation, he has described the sentences handed down to January 6 defendants — particularly to non-violent offenders — as unfair.
He has, at various times, referred to those defendants as “political prisoners” and “hostages”, saying his administration would start reviewing their cases “in the first hour” of his second term.
Trump’s statements highlight the diverging narratives that have emerged about January 6.
Trump supporters have largely dismissed the riot as a simple protest, while Democrats have highlighted the violence of the attack, which took place as lawmakers attempted to certify the 2020 vote.
On Sunday, US President Joe Biden once again described the January 6 attack as a “genuine threat to democracy”.
In a column for The Washington Post, Biden decried Trump’s attempts to reframe the US Capitol attack as an act of patriotism.
“An unrelenting effort has been underway to rewrite — even erase — the history of that day,” Biden wrote. “To explain it away as a protest that just got out of hand. This is not what happened.”
Some right-wing politicians and institutions have likewise denounced efforts to downplay the attack on January 6.
For instance, the Society for the Rule of Law, an institute founded by conservative lawyers and judges, has argued that the extraordinary nature of the US Capitol storming warrants harsh punishment.
“[Trump’s] statements promising to pardon the rioters make a mockery of the rule of law, and we’ve condemned them in the strongest possible terms,” the group said.
‘I hope that he commutes me’
But for the protesters gathered outside of the DC detention centre, there was little question that the prosecutions have been rife with injustice.
Many accused law enforcement of seeking to entrap the January 6 rioters. Some have also argued that the violent actions of a few have been used to smear all those present.
Authorities have repeatedly refuted those claims.
In his broadcast telephone call, Box reiterated the oft-repeated claim that no Capitol Police officers died as a direct result of the attack.
The Capitol Police, however, have maintained that five deaths were linked to the riot: One officer, Brian Sicknick, was assaulted and died a day later after suffering two strokes, and four others died by suicide in the following months.
Nevertheless, Box framed his actions on January 6 as an act of free speech, protected by the First Amendment of the US Constitution.
“No January 6 defendants, whether incarcerated or on an FBI list or walking free today, did anything other than engage in what were supposed to be protected First Amendment activities, redressing our grievances and hearing our concerns to the world about what is without question a stolen election in 2020,” Box said.
Brandon Fellows, 30, was also charged in the events of January 6. He spent nearly three years in the DC prison, after prosecutors showed evidence he entered the US Capitol through a broken window and smoked marijuana in Senator Jeff Merkley’s office.
He was later charged with criminal contempt for outbursts during court proceedings.
But Fellows has been released on probation, which limits him to an 80km (50-mile) radius around Washington, DC. He attended Sunday’s protest outside the DC detention centre wearing a Make America Great Again hat, a signal of his continued support for Trump.
“I just hope that [Trump] commutes me, so I can leave and start my life,” Fellows said, adding he wants to restart the tree and chimney businesses he ran before his arrests.
‘Extension of Donald Trump’
The nightly vigils were first started by Micki Witthoeft, the mother of Ashli Babbitt, a woman fatally shot by Capitol Police as she attempted to climb through a broken window on January 6.
Nicole Reffitt has been one of the main organisers ever since. Her husband, Guy Reffitt, was the first January 6 defendant to be convicted in 2022. In the aftermath, she moved to Washington, DC, from Texas to help other defendants navigate the legal proceedings.
“When you have the sheer might of the United States government against you or your loved one, it’s a very scary feeling and very intimidating,” she told Al Jazeera.
Guy Reffitt was convicted of civil disorder, obstructing an official proceeding and remaining in a restricted building with a firearm.
A video recording from January 6 showed Reffitt, a member of the Texas Three Percenters militia, saying, “I just want to see [House Speaker Nancy] Pelosi’s head hit every f**king stair on the way out.” He was sentenced to nearly seven years in prison.
Hopeful that a reprieve from Trump lies around the corner, Nicole Reffitt maintains that politics distorted justice in her husband’s case.
She and her fellow protesters set up an “advent calendar” to mark down the days until Trump’s inauguration on January 20.
“I saw half-truths and exaggerations used as fact of law and a DC jury that saw my husband as an extension of Donald Trump,” Reffitt said. “That is not how justice is supposed to play out in America.”