With a stroke of the presidential pen, people charged in connection with the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol breach were free. Many had no idea how they would get home.
After President Donald Trump signed pardons and commutations on Jan. 20, an estimated 300 people were released from 75 prisons in 35 states, according to Gary Heavin, a Texas philanthropist who raised funds for an operation to meet each of the prisoners and help them get back home.
“Everyone was scrambling to make sure there were people at the gates of these prisons” to welcome the former prisoners and help them with basic needs, Heavin told The Epoch Times.
The volunteers ensured that the ex-prisoners “were warm and fed, with a hotel to go to, and a phone to reconnect to their families,” he said. Volunteers also provided transportation, including commercial airline tickets or flights via private jets, including one that Heavin owns.
These volunteers and the people they helped told The Epoch Times that emotions overflowed as they shared time together. They described relief that the prisoners were freed and could return home. But they also decried how the U.S. justice system handled the Jan. 6 cases and expressed concern over the continuing challenges that the ex-prisoners face. […]
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