John Strand, a former guest on Pray with America’s Leaders, is now released from prison on J6 charges. 

From The Washington Times. A Jan. 6 defendant said he spent four months in solitary confinement in federal prison, harsh conditions that could have been avoided in light of the Supreme Court’s ruling that the Justice Department overreached when it charged hundreds of the U.S. Capitol defendants with felony obstruction.

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John Strand, who was released early from prison last week, said federal prison officials in Miami locked him in solitary confinement for four months of his term over accusations ranging from publicly revealing online how far he had to walk to reach a computer, to helping other Jan. 6 defendants in prison receive support from outside groups.

“It’s kind of like your entire existence is within a giant concrete shoe box,” Mr. Strand, 39, said of the cell where he served his sentence at the Miami Federal Correctional Institution. …

Mr. Strand was sentenced to two years and eight months in prison after a Washington, D.C., jury found him guilty of a felony charge of obstruction of an official proceeding and four misdemeanor violations stemming from the Jan. 6, 2021, attack at the Capitol.

But the obstruction charge was erased after the Supreme Court ruled last month in the case of another Jan. 6 defendant that the government was misapplying the obstruction statute. Federal prosecutors had filed the charge against multiple other defendants in the attack at the Capitol, including Mr. Strand. …

Mr. Strand walked out of a Louisiana prison last Wednesday and was a free man after serving one year. He said he is “grateful” for the ruling and had been praying that it would come to pass, though he and his lawyer had expected the high court would rule in favor of Jan. 6 defendants. …

During a portion of his prison sentence at the Miami facility, Mr. Strand was placed in solitary in the isolation unit.

“It’s like a giant steel, rusted red, brownish color. Everything else in the cell is concrete, so it’s all grayish, ugly and depressing…and you’re reduced to a pulse and almost nothing else,” he said.

Prison policy dictates that those locked up in solitary confinement must be granted one hour of “recreation time” or outdoor time per day, but Mr. Strand says they violated their own policy at the Miami facility.

“They don’t even honor that. You only get that about 50% of the time, so probably roughly three hours per week that I got access ’rec’ was a dog cage,” he said. …

Mr. Strand also said that prison officials did not allow him to shower often while he was in isolation. …

Strand appeared on Pray with America’s Leaders last year to discuss his case. You can watch his appearance below:

Share your prayers for Strand and other J6 defendants below.

(Excerpt from The Washington Times. Photo Credit: Harry Shelton on Unsplash)