Thousands of Americans Have Been Illegally Detained in Chicagos CIA-Style Detention CenterBy Carey Wedler From 2004 to 2015, at least 3,500 people were detained at Homan Square. These records do not cover the full span of the facilitys tenure, as it has been open since 1995. According to the Guardian, a grossly disproportionate ratio of detainees were minorities, many accused of low-level drug crimes, [and] faced with incriminating themselves before their arrests appeared in a booking system by which their families and attorneys might find them. The majority of arrests were for low-level drug crimes. As the Guardian details, there were 1,175 arrests for heroin, 526 for cannabis, 484 for cocaine, and 464 for unspecified drug charges. 244 arrests were made in relation to firearms while other arrests were for minor infractions such as traffic violations, public urination and driving without a seatbelt. Other charges ranged from drinking alcohol in public to murder. More than half of all Homan Square arrests occurred 2.5 miles or less from the facility. Of 3,621 arrest records provided to the Guardian, about 3,540 incurred charges (the newspaper notes that [v]ast amounts of data documenting the full scope of detentions and interrogations at Homan Square remain undisclosed). Though blacks make up 33% of Chicagos population, 82% of those detained at Homan Square were black. Of the 3,500 detained, only three were allowed official visits from attorneys, two of which were on the same day in 2013. The Guardian noted it was able to find eight other instances of lawyers entering the facilities, though four were to accompany clients turning themselves in. Craig Futterman of the University of Chicago Law School observed that In Chicago, the police do not provide people with attorneys at the police station at the times they most need them: when theyre subject to interrogationThats what the Miranda warning is all about: the right to counsel while interrogated by police. Though police have said that any individual who wishes to consult a lawyer will not be interrogated until they have an opportunity to do so, the Guardian notes that this would mean 3,500 people waived their right to an attorney. Former top Obama aide and current Chicago Mayor, Rahm Emanuel, who presided over of the arrests 2,522 since he took office in 2011has insisted that Chicago police follow all the rules. However, in addition to the lack of access to attorneys, first-hand accounts reveal a starkly different story. In February, the Anti-Media reported on detainees held for marijuana, shackled to poles, and denied lawyers. Since the initial news broke that month, 118 arrests have been made. Charles Jones was arrested (for a second time) on March 17 after police officers broke in his door looking for a 58 man. Jones is 64, but when officerssome masked found a firearm in his air conditioning unit, they took him back to Homan Square. He was shackled to a pole in an interrogation room and his requests for a lawyer were denied over the course of six to eight hours (others claim to have had similar experiences while other allegations include sexual abuse, starvation, sensory deprivation, and beatings). Jones suspects they conduct such arrests to extract information on drug dealers. The only reason youre brought to Homan and Fillmore [the facilitys cross streets] is to extract information, he said. The police probably feel they need those covert operations because thats the only way to get the intel they need instead of doing the good work the hard workIts easy to just go grab someone, throw em somewhere no food, no water, no access to the outside world, intimidating and threatening em. Jones wife and mother of his three children was unable to locate him once he was arrested, in spite of her slew of calls to police departments across the city. Jones is currently in the midst of suing the police department for a separate 2012 case where he claims he was charged for refusing to give them information and cooperate with them. Rich Dressman, a white 50-year-old man, says he left town to evade pressure from police to act as an informant. My life would be a lot easier if I gave them information, he said. Id be home with a nice long shower and all that bullshit. Though police insist there is nothing disreputable about the facility, saying the square merely house[s] undercover units, the number and nature of arrests paint a markedly different reality. More people have been detained and charged at the formerly secret black site than were killed on 9/11, though such abuses are often justified by the terrorist attacks that occurred that day (even as the Patriot Act and Homan arrests overwhelmingly focus on drug crimes). More people have been illegally detained at Homan than suspected terrorists at Guantanamo Bay, the globally infamous military torture facility scorned for flouting due process and holding innocent people for a decade. Guantanamo has been open longer than the span of released records from Homan Square. That the Chicago police continued to arrest peopleeven after news of its abuses sparked widespread outragehighlights the impunity with which they operate. That the numbers far surpass other outrageous figures demonstrates the United States increasingly misplaced priorities and disregard for the justice and freedom it claims to protect. As Flint Taylor, who helped pressure Mayor Emanuel and the police to provide compensation to victims of police abuses said, Hopefully, Chicagos political leadership and its establishment media will finally take notice and stop collaborating to bury this story, so righteously championed by the Guardian, under the rug of denial and false ignorance. Carey Wedler writes for theAntiMedia.org. Anti-Media Radio airs weeknights at 11pm Eastern/8pm Pacific. If you spot a typo, email edits@theantimedia.org. Carey Wedler joined Anti-Media as an independent journalist in September of 2014. As a senior editor, her topics of interest include the police and warfare states, the Drug War, the relevance of history to current problems and solutions, and positive developments that drive humanity forward. She currently resides in Los Angeles, California, where she was born and raised. Learn more about Wedler here! I would not visit Chicago any more than I would visit New York City. Both places are corrupt to the maximum. You have to pay somebody to get anything done, or to do anything. The cities are too big, and should be disbursed to more open areas, and made into smaller ones. With the electronic technology today, people can live further from each other, and still function in the same manner. There would be less crime, because of lower population density. I so agree. To add on; the gun laws are ridiculous. I wouldnt go there to even vacation. Its a city of political corruption, run by liberal trolls.I would not go to a city, let alone a state, that prevents you from the right to be able to protect yourself. Just because some spineless, gutless, punk-@ssed liberal wants to be a victim, as well as, take you with him/her, down the valley of the shadow of death, doesnt mean we have to conform. Better to be judged by 12, rather than carried by 6. Also, never travel alone. Me, I always have 357 friends with me. De oppresso liber. I grew up in Chicago. Cant imagine any reason why Id ever go back to visit. The Rule of Law in the occupied States is dead. Kangaroo courts preside over the slaves of America. Drug peddlers destroy lives ten-fold. For every ONE dealer there are at least ten distributors. For every ten distributors there are 100 USERS (destroyed lives and souls)!!! Barry is going to buy crack from them! If Barry could get his Bar Card he might try to defend them, although he didnt when he was a Community fund raiser in Chicago. Oh well sounds as if Black cause 80% of problems in shitcargo Lock all them up its great saving for DSHS .. Power Chimps behind bars is good It aint just in Chicago people. A recent TV show depicted this Homan Square illegal operation. I believe it was in The Good Wife. A client of the lawyer disappeared and she got word he was there. She went there to speak to him and the police wouldnt allow her to speak to her client (already a constitutional violation). They continued to deny they held anyone there. This was, of course, a fictional TV show but it sounds like the writers were aware of the CPD actions. Does the mayor support this kind of illegal detention of citizens? The question is not the number of minorities. The question should be whether or not they were committing crimes. If they were committing crimes, it doesnt matter what color their skin is. They should be arrested. Both Chicago and New York City are nothing but cesspools. I would not go there under any circumstance. This is the home of the most corrupt political machines in the world. I think Washington DC would fit that category. As a previous commenter remarked, it dont matter your skin color, where you came from or your immigration status, if you do the crime expect to do the time. If Homan Square keeps Da Bakkabawl Dindus off the streets and away from humans, its A Good Thing. If they make it to their new JOBS in the Moon mines, managed by the likes of Axelrod, Emmanuel and Jarrett, fine. If the transport vessel gets shredded by an asteroid, also fine. Now that is where our attorney General should look into what is going on instead of Phoenix, AZ. 