Warden F.J. Bowers of the Federal Correctional Institution (FCI) in Memphis ignored the request made by Representative Andy Ogles (R-TN-05) last week to move unjustly imprisoned J6 defendant Stewart Parks to the prison’s minimum security satellite camp, where Parks was originally told he would spend his eight month sentence.
Citing reporting by The Tennessee Star exposing the conditions inside FCI Memphis as relayed by Parks, Ogles demanded in a February 12 letter to Bowers for Parks to be moved from the primary prison facility to its minimum security satellite campus. Ogles gave Bowers until February 17 to respond, and Bowers did not return a press inquiry from The Star sent prior to Ogles’ deadline.
Parks (pictured above) confirmed in a Monday phone call to Michael Patrick Leahy, the editor-in-chief of The Star, that he has not been moved to the minimum security camp. Leahy was not able to record the call, but took notes as Parks spoke.
Parks additionally told Leahy he has been harangued by guards, and one told him to “change his language on phone calls.”
Another, according to Parks, tapped him on the shoulder to sign the paperwork while he spoke on the phone, cutting short a 15-minute phone call that Parks had waited in line for his opportunity to place.
According to Parks, a third instance involved guards rousing him from his cell to speak with a case manager and then a psychologist, who eventually told Parks there was no valid reason to see him.
Despite these meetings, Parks had still not received his prison orientation by February 12, despite most other inmates he’s spoken to having received orientation information about the prison.
In the Monday call and in a previously unreported February 12 phone call, Parks described the dilapidated conditions at FCI Memphis, where he told Leahy his cell regularly floods, prison staff and inmates are forced to catch water from leaking ceilings using trashcans, and inmates are reduced to using toilet paper to insulate the walls of their cells.
“One night I was sitting reading the Bible and my socks got soaked,” Parks recollected to Leahy during the February 12 call. “I was sitting at my desk, all of the sudden my sock got soaked.”
He continued, “The federal government, the prison system just pure dilapidated.”
Parks explained, “They have these trash cans, really everywhere, just to collect water.” He suggested there are more trashcans dedicated to collecting water than trash.
The flooding is not limited to the cells, as Parks told Leahy the FCI Memphis basketball court had been flooded, with water apparently shoulder-height at one point.
Still, Parks told Leahy that his status as a January 6 prisoner resulted in camaraderie with other inmates.
“Word got around,” explained Parks. “People come up to me being real friendly.”
He explained that his comparatively short sentence of eight months for walking into the U.S. Capitol seems to separate him at the facility, where he told Leahy he has not met any inmates who are serving “under a year.”
Parks also told Leahy he is not the only January 6 defendant serving time at the facility, as it houses Joe Thomas, the Navy veteran from Ohio who was sentenced to four years and 10 months in prison plus three years of probation after prosecutors claimed he assaulted police officers while at the U.S. Capitol.
Since entering the facility, Parks and Thomas have spoken, apparently to the chagrin of some of the prison staff, as Parks told The Star a guard “hurried him out of dinner” after seeing him sharing a table and conversing with Thomas.
Parks additionally told The Star that food at FCI Memphis is “really shocking” and “not like a healthy diet,” then recounted being served “waffles and mashed potatoes for lunch.”
Psychologically, Parks told Leahy, “the Bible is the only thing keeping me going,” and requested readers of The Star “keep praying” for him as he appeals his case while serving his sentence.
Washington, D.C. District Court Judge Amit P. Mehta sentenced Parks to eight months in prison last year. Earlier this month, Mehta denied Parks’ request to stay his sentence pending appeal in a ruling where Mehta also accused Parks of lying to the court without providing evidence.
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Tom Pappert is the lead reporter for The Tennessee Star, and also reports for The Georgia Star News, The Virginia Star, and the Arizona Sun Times. Follow Tom on X/Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Stewart Parks” by Stewart Parks.Â
When God is going to give you something big, a big test is going to come to you, that big test, listen to me! When God is going to make you abundant in something, first he takes away everything in that direction, the Bible says that the Lord made Joseph, second in command, in the entire nation of Egypt, but before being one, he was a prisoner, before being one, Joseph was a prisoner, God raised David as king but before raising him up, they did not even give him a plate so that he could eat at the table with your brothers.
We are with you, Carla Parks.
A lot of “constituents” in the 5th District routinely feel ignored these days. Welcome to the Club, Andy!