Unjustly convicted J6 defendant Stewart Parks spoke with Tennessee Star CEO Michael Patrick Leahy in a 15-minute phone call placed on Friday afternoon from the Federal Correctional Institution in Memphis, Tennessee. Parks self-reported to begin serving an eight-month sentence on Tuesday.
The Star and Leahy have filed a Freedom of Information Act request with FCI Memphis to obtain the 15-minute audio recording of that call. Inmates incarcerated at FCI are allowed to make 500 minutes of out bound phone calls per month, but each call is recorded and is limited to 15 minutes in length.
Parks’ call with Leahy was cut off abruptly exactly at the 15-minute mark.
Leahy did not record the call on his end, so the quotes included below are from Leahy’s contemporaneous hand-written notes and recollection of the call, and will be updated upon the receipt of the FOIA-requested recording of the call by The Star.
Parks told Leahy that he is safe, but has not received the required orientation of new prisoners, and is relying upon information provided to him by fellow prisoners to have a full understanding of how the facility is operated.
“There are murderers and child molesters here ,” Parks told Leahy. “No J6 defendant should be in such a situation.”
Parks added that he was in the minimum security part of of FCI Memphis (which also has a medium security part), but that one of the prison guards told him that he might be moved to the less dangerous, minimum security facility known as the camp, though that comment was made in passing and did not have any official authorization.
“There are rumors I may be downgraded to a camp,” Parks said. “The guard said I’m going to see about getting you to the camp.”
Of the 1,055 inmates incarcerated at Memphis-FCI (all male), 55 are incarcerated at the camp, according to the facility’s website.
Prior to self-reporting, Parks told The Star the federal government informed him he was to complete his sentence in FCI Memphis at the minimum security camp.
Additionally, Parks said he had not yet been informed about visitation rights. Parks previously planned for Leahy to be on the list of individuals approved to visit him at the facility.
Parks also confirmed to The Star that he has not been placed in solitary confinement, despite the fact that he has not received a COVID-19 shot, breaking with the practice at least one federal institution used for an unvaccinated January 6 defendant.
Despite being in a medium security facility, Parks told The Star, “Gangs are everywhere.”
In addition to the gang problem Parks described, FCI Memphis has a documented issue with struggling with media reports stretching back more than a decade. Weapons were previously smuggled into the institution, as were drugs and tobacco, while a prison union official said last year the number of smartphones smuggled into the federal prison have reached “epidemic” levels.
The prison’s guards are also reportedly working 16-hour days in four to five day stretches, making them exhausted and less effective on the job.
Parks explained he was placed in a cell which he shares with a member of the Aryan Brotherhood, and told The Star he has the top bunk in a bed that is very uncomfortable and is only 5 feet in length, which makes it very difficult for him to sleep at night, since he is 6 feet tall.
He noted that the inmates are served three meals a day, but that since he is not able to sleep well at night, he has been skipping breakfast and only eats two meals a day.
There is no gym facility that is currently operational, Parks added, so he is unable to work out.
“I am learning how to survive,” he said.
According to the Prison Rape Elimination Act Audit Report of the Memphis FCI facility conducted in March of 2022 and released in April 2022, the average length of stay for incarcerated inmates is 114 months, or more than nine years. (see page 3 of the 132 page report).
That report indicated that in the past 12 month there had been one allegation of inmate-on-inmate sexual abuse and three allegations of inmate-on-inmate sexual harassment, and that administrative investigations had resulted in no charges being filed.
Parks added that his cellmate warned him that morning that their cell was likely to flood later in the day due to the heavy rain, and they needed to prepare for that likelihood. He did not elaborate on the degree of cell flooding that he anticipated. Parks indicated that his cellmate believed flooding of cells apparently happens regularly during heavy rains due to the poor maintenance of the facility.
“I’m doing well psychologically,” Parks said when asked about his mental health. “I met with the prison psychologist. I’ve been reading my Bible for comfort.”
Parks added that he has called his mother, several friends, and The Tennessee Star from prison, but explained that not all friends have picked up on the other end when they have received the call.
“The phone number comes up with a Washington, D.C. area code,” he noted, which means some of his friends may not realize the call is coming from him while incarcerated at FCI Memphis.
“It’s tough when the call is not picked up on the other end,” Parks added. Apparently, if a call is placed by a prisoner and it is not picked up on the other end of the call, that prisoner needs to go to the back of the line of prisoners waiting to make phone calls.
Before the call ended abruptly, Parks asked for prayers from readers of The Tennessee Star, listeners to The Tennessee Star Report radio program, and his friends on the outside. He expressed appreciation to everyone who has followed his story and is praying for him.
Parks’ attempt to stay his sentence pending his appeal was rejected just days before he was slated to surrender to FCI Memphis by D.C. District Judge Amit P. Mehta, who also accused Parks of lying in court despite neglecting to offer the evidence of Parks’ dishonesty.
Mehta ruled similarly when ordering Peter Navarro, previously an advisor to former President Donald Trump, to report to prison despite his appeal.
Prior to his refusal of Parks’ request, Mehta went on a reported tirade against Parks during his trial, dismissing the arguments he raised in his defense out of hand. Parks suggested the behavior by Mehta amounted to collusion with the prosecutors.
In a final appearance on The Tennessee Star Report prior to entering the federal prison, Parks told listeners that the “judicial elite” in Washington, D.C. wants to “stomp” him “down” to send a message to other January 6 defendants seeking to appeal their unjust conviction.
“It’s like the more I talk to the media, the more I bring this to the attention of the public, the judicial elites in D.C. want to stop me down even more and hush me up,” said Parks. “It’s like they don’t want other defendants to feel emboldened or encouraged by it.”
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Tom Pappert is the lead reporter for The Tennessee Star, and also reports for The Georgia Star News, The Virginia Star, and the Arizona Sun Times. Follow Tom on X/Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
