A Jan. 6 defendant wants to make it easier for families to visit with their loved ones who are being held in pretrial detention or as prisoners at the District of Columbia jail, some for more than two years, in connection with the 2021 U.S. Capitol breach.
Shane Jenkins, who faces trial next month on 10 criminal counts from his presence at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, hopes to raise enough money so that every Jan. 6 detainee or inmate in the jail can receive a family visit.
“It’s been almost two years for most of us,” Jenkins said, in announcing the creation of “Operation Love Wins,” sponsored by his organization The Real J6.
We are asking fellow patriots to donate money, airline miles, hotel points, or other travel resources to aid us in this mission. Every penny of this will go to our cause,” he said in the statement.
Donations will provide airfare, lodging, food, and local transportation for up to four members per family of the more than two dozen J6ers held in the Correctional Treatment Facility in the District of Columbia.
A recent visit to the “DC Gulag” by U.S. Rep. Troy Nehls (R-Texas) helped secure approval for family visits to the facility.
“We started with a goal of $50,000 to get each individual at least one visit,” Sarah McAbee, director of public affairs for The Real J6, told The Epoch Times. “If it takes off and there is more money, we will be able to fund more than one trip. If not, we will evenly distribute the leftover money to their commissary accounts.”
McAbee, whose husband Ronald “Colt” McAbee had been held in the D.C. correctional facility before being moved to a Virginia jail in late 2022, said the program is needed because most of the J6ers held in D.C. are the family breadwinners; the incarcerations have put a huge financial strain on families. She told Jenkins they could appeal to frequent travelers to donate miles or hotel points.
“I explained to him that many corporate people, like myself, travel often and collect travel rewards, whether it be airline miles or hotel points,” McAbee said. “There are some people that I know personally that have so many rewards that they will never be able to use all of them even if they wanted to, so they would like to donate them to a good cause.”
Those who want to donate airline miles or hotel points should send an email to info@therealJ6.com.
