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Proud Boys Leader Enrique Tarrio Begs To Be Released From Jail: ‘This Place Needs To Be Shut Down!’

MIAMI, FLORIDA - MAY 25: Enrique Tarrio (C), leader of the Proud Boys, uses a megaphone while counter-protesting people gathered at the Torch of Friendship to commemorate the one year anniversary of the killing of George Floyd on May 25, 2021 in Miami, Florida. Mr. Tarrio lead a group to the area to express their support of police officers. Floyd's murder by Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin sparked global protest and continues to spur the Black Lives Matter movement. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

Proud Boys Chairman Enrique Tarrio, who was sentenced to five months in jail after burning a Black Lives Matter flag, asked a judge to release him, citing inhumane conditions.

Tarrio told Judge Jonathan H. Pittman: “I’ve been to jail before and what I’ve seen here, I’ve never seen anywhere else. This place needs to be shut down immediately.”

Tarrio is alleging that he was subjected to abuse by correctional officers, as well as medical neglect and unsanitary conditions. His cell was reportedly flooded with dirty toilet water from another cell.

Lucas I. Dansie, Tarrio’s lawyer, said his client’s meals “are literally thrown in his cell, cold and frequently inedible.”

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Tarrio also claims that he witnessed another inmate suffer from a seizure without receiving medical attention for a half-hour.

Tarrio said: “I’m deathly afraid that something is going to happen to me.”

Pittman said on Monday: “It is obviously distressing to hear of these conditions. I come back to the same question: How is Mr. Tarrio’s condition any different than any other inmate at the jail?”

Elizabeth Letsou