- Jessica Watkins, an oath guard, was arrested in January and charged with conspiracy to storm the Capitol.
- She requested to be released from prison and that the courts should consider housekeeping.
- Watkins believes she has a “specific risk” as a transgender woman, BuzzFeed News reports.
- Visit the Insider Business Department for more stories.
A member of a far-right militia that stormed the U.S. Capitol building has asked to be released from prison, according to BuzzFeed News, due to security concerns that she is transgender.
Jessica Watkins, an oath guard, who is charged Jan. 6 with conspiracy to attack the U.S. Capitol building, was released on Saturday for trial.
She claimed she was “treated harshly” and “especially in detention” because she is transgender, BuzzFeed News reports.
Watkins also argued that she is no threat to the public, the media said.
The 38-year-old was detained in at least two facilities, including the Montgomery County Jail in Dayton, Ohio. It is not clear where she is currently being held.
She asks the court to release her and instead consider housekeeping.
In a legal document that BuzzFeed saw, Watkins claims she was abused in an Ohio jail.
According to her lawyer, she was stripped naked and left in a cell with lights on her face for 24 hours 24 hours a day.
This was in response to a hunger strike that the Oathholder undertook in an attempt to get treatment for an arm injury, the media reported.
Authorities believe Watkins is the leader of the Ohio State Regular Militia, a far-right group that shares members with the Oath-Guards.
Watkins is a former ranger, war veteran in Afghanistan and volunteer firefighter, BuzzFeed News reports.
She has also run a bar in Woodstock, Ohio, for the past two years, the media said.
The warden was arrested on January 18. She was charged a week later with charges related to her actions in the uprising.
The selfie with Watkins and Crowl in the Rotunda of the Capitol and a Parler post of Watkins. Both were taken to a court filed by federal prosecutors.
Department of Justice
Watkins will storm the Capitol building on January 6. She also confirmed that she stormed the building on Parler and took a selfie in the roundabout of the building.
“I had to force access to the Capitol building before,” she posted on Parler. “#stopthesteal #stormthecapitol #athathekeepers #ohiomilitia.”
Prosecutors’ statements against Watkins indicate that the Oath Keepers spent months attacking the Capitol.
A series of text messages obtained by prosecutors suggest that extensive plans to storm Congress may have begun in November.
“It is our duty as Americans to fight, kill and die for our rights,” Watkins sent a contact on November 17.
“We have to go underground if this coup works,” she texted a few days later.
Prosecutors also personally trained Watkins to prepare them for the deadly siege.