In a Friday Truth Social post, President Donald Trump suggested that Tesla vandals should face 20-year sentences, potentially served in El Salvador’s notorious prison system. This proposal isn’t just excessive—it’s fundamentally un-American and betrays the conservative principles of limited government and constitutional rights that many of his supporters claim to uphold.

The January 6 Precedent

We’ve already seen how the detention of January 6 defendants has raised serious concerns about conditions in American facilities. Many of these defendants were held in the DC jail system where they faced extended solitary confinement for up to 23 hours daily while awaiting trial.

The nickname “DC-GITMO” refers to the section of the Washington DC jail where January 6 defendants were held. This name deliberately draws a comparison to the U.S. detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba (“GITMO”), which has been controversial for its detention practices, treatment of prisoners, and limited due process. The DC detention facility is also referenced as “the DC gulag,” by many January 6 defendants and their supporters.

Richard “Bigo” Barnett, who was photographed in Nancy Pelosi’s office during January 6, reported spending 109 days in jail with weeks in solitary confinement after filing a complaint about guard misconduct.

His attorney Joseph McBride wrote in an “emergency request” to human rights organizations:

“Richard spent the entirety of his time at DC-GITMO in solitary confinement enduring disgusting unsanitary conditions that include the presence of black mold inside the cell where he was being held in solitary confinement, as well as beatings, sleep deprivation, getting robbed of his belongings, and various psychological and emotional abuses — including the denial of timely medical care, and threats toward his wife.

Barnett filed ten grievances against staff for these offenses, none of them were unanswered, and each one resulted in swift punishment and retaliation by the guards.”

January 6 defendant Joseph Biggs tells NN&V:

“I was in solitary for two years. Treated like an animal. They lied to me and said it was only for a month to see how I acted but then they just left me there.”

Biggs also claims he never saw discovery until the trial had already started.  He received a 17-year sentence which was commuted by President Trump.

Other January 6 defendants have alleged being denied proper medical care, access to attorneys, and basic necessities while in detention. Conditions were so concerning that in October 2021, a federal judge held DC jail officials in contempt of court based on defendant Christopher Worrell’s “inexcusable” lack of medical care, saying:

“It’s clear to me the civil rights of the defendant were violated by the D.C. Department of Corrections.”

If the treatment of January 6 defendants in American facilities prompted outcry from conservatives, how can we possibly justify sending American citizens convicted of arson or property destruction to El Salvador’s notoriously harsh prison system?

America already has its ultimate punishment facility – ADX Florence federal supermax in Colorado, the “Alcatraz of the Rockies,” where inmates like international terrorists and drug kingpins face 24 hours of solitary confinement daily in concrete cells with minimal human contact. Yet Americans were outraged about January 6 defendants’ treatment in far less restrictive facilities.

The Constitutional Question

The suggestion that American citizens could be imprisoned in a foreign nation’s penal system raises profound constitutional concerns. Our Constitution guarantees due process, protection from cruel and unusual punishment, and the right to fair treatment. These fundamental rights cannot be outsourced or circumvented by shipping citizens to foreign detention facilities.

The American correctional system, despite its flaws, operates under constitutional constraints and oversight.

The Eighth Amendment prohibits “cruel and unusual punishment” and provides fundamental protections including the right to adequate medical care, protection from violence, and basic human dignity. Inmates retain due process rights under the Fourteenth Amendment, including various procedural protections when their conditions change significantly. U.S. courts can and do intervene when these basic rights are violated.

El Salvador’s prison system—which has gained notoriety through President Bukele’s harsh crackdowns—operates under entirely different standards. CECOT mega-prison functions under a “state of exception” where basic constitutional protections have been suspended for nearly three years.

Prisoners face extreme conditions: no visitation, no educational programs, 24-hour confinement, and severe overcrowding with cells holding up to 70 prisoners. Human rights organizations have documented widespread abuses including torture, deaths in custody, malnutrition, and disease. Prisoners have no meaningful access to legal recourse or due process, with many held indefinitely without trial.

Sending American citizens to such a system would effectively strip them of every constitutional protection they’re entitled to—an unprecedented abdication of our foundational legal principles.

Proportional Justice Matters

The recent wave of arson attacks against Tesla dealerships, vehicles, and charging stations across the country is serious criminal behavior.

In Las Vegas, perpetrators used Molotov cocktails and firearms to damage Tesla vehicles while spray-painting “RESIST” on doors. In Kansas City, Cybertrucks were set on fire. Similar attacks have occurred in Colorado, Oregon, South Carolina, and Massachusetts, with attackers using explosive devices and firearms in what Attorney General Pam Bondi has called “domestic terrorism.”

In her official statement, Bondi declared:

“The swarm of violent attacks on Tesla property is nothing short of domestic terrorism. The Department of Justice has already charged several perpetrators with that in mind, including in cases that involve charges with five-year mandatory minimum sentences.”

These are not mere acts of vandalism but coordinated attacks using dangerous weapons. However, we must maintain perspective.

Federal charges for arson already carry significant penalties, as evidenced by the Justice Department’s statement that the three individuals already charged face five-year mandatory minimum sentences and up to twenty years in prison, if convicted.

Those who criticized lengthy sentences for January 6 defendants should be equally concerned about disproportionate punishment that abandons constitutional principles, regardless of the political motivation behind the crimes.

The law of Moses was equivalent punishment:

“Show no pity: life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.” -Deut.19:21

Twenty years of life for a keyed up Tesla is not equivalent, it is excessive. American justice should be fair, not overhanded.

— (@FreeStateWill) March 21, 2025

Beyond Partisan Politics

Standing on principle means applying the same standards regardless of who stands accused or who was victimized. Those who rightly questioned the treatment of January 6 defendants should be the first to oppose sending any American citizen to a foreign prison system, regardless of their political views or targets.

You don’t have to support vandalism or targeted attacks against Tesla to oppose potentially unconstitutional punishment. You don’t have to approve of protesters’ tactics to defend their basic rights as American citizens. And you certainly don’t need to abandon constitutional principles when the targets align with your political preferences.

True conservatism means defending constitutional rights and limited government power—especially when it would be politically expedient to abandon those principles. If we believe in American exceptionalism, we must also believe in the exceptional nature of American constitutional protections for all citizens, regardless of their politics.

This article was written with the assistance of AI. Please verify information and consult additional sources as needed.