Stewart Parks, the Tennessean who was among the roughly 1,500 “J6 hostages” granted full pardons by President Donald Trump on Monday, detailed how he traveled to the Federal Detention Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on Monday night to demand the release of individuals imprisoned for crimes relating to January 6, 2021 following Trump’s executive order during an exclusive interview with The Tennessee Star’s CEO and Editor-in-Chief Michael Patrick Leahy.
Parks (pictured here), who was in Washington D.C. over the weekend and on Monday to celebrate Trump’s inauguration, said he drove a rental car from D.C. to the Federal Detention Center in Philadelphia at the request of the wife of fellow Tennessean Joshua Dale, who was imprisoned on crimes related to January 6.
Dale (pictured above, center) entered federal custody in October last year after pleading guilty to charges for being present at the U.S. Capitol on January 6. He was sentenced to 4 months in prison followed by one year of supervised probation and ordered to pay a $1,025 fine.
A GiveSendGo donation page for Dale describes the Jefferson City resident as a husband and father who had lost his tile and lawn care businesses as a result of the January 6 charges.
Given his proximity to Philadelphia, Parks said Dale’s wife asked if he would drive to the Federal Detention Center to pick up Dale after it was confirmed that Trump would be signing an executive order pardoning the “J6 hostages” hours after taking the oath of office.
Upon arriving at the Federal Detention Center in Philadelphia at approximately 10:45 p.m., Parks said officials at the prison were “slow walking” the release of Dale and other J6 inmates despite the executive order signed by Trump in the hours before.
“The guards said the [J6 inmates] were in processing and couldn’t be let go,” Parks explained on Tuesday’s edition of The Michael Patrick Leahy Show.
“They were slow walking this thing because other inmates across the country were already being released back to their families,” Parks added.
Hours after he and other families had knocked on the door of the Federal Detention Center demanding the release of the J6 inmates, Parks said Dale and other inmates – including Michael Bradley, Joshua Atwood, and Matt Purdy – were eventually released from federal custody at approximately 2:00 a.m. on Tuesday.
Having served more than five months of an eight-month prison term at the Federal Correctional Institution in Memphis himself after being unjustly convicted for crimes stemming from his presence at the Capitol on January 6, Parks said he is still “in a state of shock” after having received a pardon by Trump.
“I’m still in a state of shock. I’m extremely happy. Thank you Donald Trump. Thank you Lord,” Parks said.
Watch the full interview:
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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Kaitlin on X / Twitter.
