The government suddenly transferred J6 political hostages Ryan Samsel and Jake Lang to dangerous gang units at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, known as one of the most brutal facilities in the country.
They were placed alongside notorious child sex traffickers and career criminal gang members as they await their court proceedings in Washington, DC.
The reason for their abrupt removal from the Washington D.C. Correctional Treatment Facility on Feb. 20 and relocation to New York City, a city with a strained jail system, remains unclear.
Despite Mayor’s complaints about an influx of immigrants, Samsel will need to return to D.C. for sentencing within two months, while Lang’s trial is scheduled for September in D.C.
Legal experts speculate that officials in the Justice Department instructed U.S. Marshals to transfer individuals to a facility known for hostility towards J6 participants, likely to prevent further revelations challenging the government’s narrative on the J6 events.
This move may have also been intended to intimidate or harm Samsel, who claims to have been subjected to torture for refusing to comply with a plea deal involving false testimony against President Trump and the former Proud Boys leader.
Before the transfer, he was engaged in a struggle with oppressive correctional officers at the D.C. Gulag for medical treatment.
He expressed concern that his attorney refused to file a complaint detailing his urgent need for surgery to address blood clots and swollen glands to Judge Jia Cobb. In December, due to a painful clot in his leg, he was unable to walk.
Despite initially being denied surgery by jail medics, he was eventually provided with blood thinners to prevent further clotting. During his verdict hearing on Feb. 2 after a bench trial, Samsel represented himself as his lawyer remained mostly silent throughout the proceedings.
He pleaded with Judge Cobb to allow him to undergo the prescribed surgery before his arrest. He disclosed that it had been three years since he first received blood thinners, which had only been provided two months prior.
To prevent clotting in case of insufficient medication, he resorted to breaking up the pills into smaller pieces.
“They really are trying to kill me,” Samsel told TGP before the move.
Samsel was diagnosed with severe medical conditions three years ago prior to his arrest, putting him at risk of experiencing strokes or death from blood clots at any moment. Despite the prescribed medical treatment recommended before his arrest, the jails have neglected to provide it for the past three years.
U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth has already found the D.C. Jail system in contempt of court for denying medical treatment to other J6ers.
***SUPPORT RYAN SAMSEL’S LEGAL BATTLE FOR SURGERY HERE***
While incarcerated, Lang, 28, founded SponsorJ6.com, an organization that funds the private legal defense of J6 defendants and commissary for incarcerated J6ers. The self-described serial entrepreneur also founded Blessed News Network and J6Truth, an organization that employs a team of investigators to provide analysis of the Capitol riot and the thousands of hours of J6 footage.
After being subjected to what is often referred to as “diesel therapy” – where inmates are transported across the country by bus as a form of harassment – Samsel and Lang found themselves confined in a cramped holding cell at USP Lewisburg for a week with no communication allowed.
They were later moved to MDC Brooklyn, where they spent another seven days in similar conditions. These transfers are often used to isolate inmates for extended periods of time.
On March 5 at 2 pm, they were split up and transferred to high-risk gang units.
“I am safe right now but I cannot stay in this transit unit. I want it to be a good nongang unit,” Lang told TGP on Friday. “I would like to be reunited with Ryan and sent to a nongang block.”
UPDATE:
The only two January 6 defendants in Brooklyn Federal Prison, Jake Lang & Ryan Samsel have been SEPARATED and sent to two different notoriously DANGEROUS 'GANG UNITS'!!! ⚠️Yesterday around 2pm in the afternoon Federal Prison Officials (working for CORRUPT BIDEN DOJ)…
— Jake Lang – January 6 Political Prisoner 🇺🇸 (@JakeLangJ6) March 6, 2024
Samsel and Lang believe that the Department of Justice deliberately transferred them from the D.C. Gulag to Brooklyn, where many January 6 defendants are held pretrial, with the intention of exposing them to violence and mistreatment in the gang unit.
Former warden Cameron Lindsay described the Metropolitan Detention Center (M.D.C.) in Brooklyn as one of the most problematic facilities within the Bureau of Prisons, as reported by the New York Times.
Notable past inmates at this understaffed facility include figures such as Keith Raniere of Nxivm, alleged jewelry thief mastermind Damir Pejcinovic, FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried, MS-13 gang members, and members of organized crime.
Singer R Kelly, serving a 30-year sentence for sex trafficking and abuse, sued MDC Brooklyn for allegedly placing him on suicide watch as a form of punishment.
Ghislaine Maxwell, convicted of sex trafficking, was also housed at this facility in 2021. Her lawyers raised concerns about her treatment behind bars, citing issues such as inadequate food, contaminated water, and unsanitary conditions detailed in letters submitted as part of a lawsuit by the Federal Defenders of New York against the Bureau of Prisons.
Attorney Bobbi C. Sternheim noted in her writings that Maxwell faced conditions including cockroaches, rodents, and delays in legal visits during her time at MDC Brooklyn.
Moreover, veteran defense attorney Jonathon Mosely suggests that Lang and Samsel were transferred to this infamous jail with the ulterior motive of subjecting them to assault and intimidation within a system notorious for its association with Jeffrey Epstein’s death.
“I have been hearing about the government beating Samsel for two years, his past lawyers confirming all this to me. I assume DOJ set them up to get stabbed and beaten up in the gang unit unless Samsel agrees to testify that Donald Trump planned the violence at the Capitol,” Moseley told TGP in an exclusive interview. “Samsel and Jake Lang turned up in the same jail system where Jeffrey Epstein died — five miles away from the MCC Manhattan where Epstein died, the same epicenter. What kind of pressure would that put on someone denied medical treatment already for 3 years to testify to whatever the DoJ wants him to say?”
“The BOP decided to close MCC because the building was condemned and is being rebuilt, but most of the personnel, staff, and everybody who ran the Epstein jail were likely moved over to the MDC – they’re the same people,” he continued. “Samsel says, ‘They really are trying to kill me.’ Now they suddenly disappear him — and he has repeatedly warned that every time he gets close to getting medical treatment, they move him.”
“Why move Ryan and Jake to New York when they have court proceedings in D.C. and one is in critical need of medical treatment? He just began the paperwork to receive surgery in the D.C. jail. Now that process would have to start all over again in this other jail. Why move them to the same jail system where Epstein died mysteriously when they’re facing court in Washington, D.C.?”
MDC Brooklyn made national headlines and garnered a mass demonstration against “torture” after a fire cut off power, and the inmates suffered weeks in freezing temperatures in darkness. Inmates banged on the walls of the jail and flashed nightlights in a plea for help.
Multiple judges have publicly denounced the poor conditions at the jail and have even shortened defendants’ sentences based on their experiences there.
For instance, in January, Manhattan Federal Court Judge Jesse Furman declined to send an elderly drug dealer to the federal facility for sentencing due to severe staffing shortages and consistently dreadful conditions.
The jail is often under lockdown, with detainees confined to their cells for up to 22 hours daily without access to visitors, calls, showers, classes, or exercise.
Judge Furman emphasized that without addressing the staffing crisis, the dismal situation at the jail is unlikely to improve. The prevalence of contraband, including drugs and cell phones, is a significant issue at the facility.
Tragically, four inmates have died by suicide in the past three years. Additionally, lawyers have reported being unjustly detained by staff at the infamous Brooklyn jail.
Both Samsel and Lang provided assistance to demonstrators who were harmed by the excessive force used by law enforcement officials at the J6 Stop the Steal rally.
According to Lang’s attorney, Steven Metcalf, the police shooting of Joshua Black in the face sparked anger among the crowd and led to a peaceful protest turning into a riot. When police tried to arrest Black, Samsel intervened to help him and defended against the officers.
The police then shot another projectile that can be seen in the video igniting next to Samsel’s head.
While law enforcement gassed and assaulted protesters outside the tunnel, Lang rescued demonstrators who were being trampled on the ground by the crowded crowd, saving Tommy Tatum and Phillip Anderson’s lives.
Lang also attempted to move Roseanne Boyland to safety but was unsuccessful.
