Guardian: Chicago Police Using Black Op Sites To Conduct Off-The-Books Interrogations Of Criminal Suspects

There is a shocking story in today's Guardian about a black op site the Chicago Police Department has been operating for years, known as Homan Square, where criminal suspects are disappeared for up to 1 to 2 days, interrogated for hours at a time, not permitted assistance of counsel, not read their Miranda rights, physically tortured and the list of constitutional abuses goes on. This revelation is shocking for no other reason than the City of Chicago has paid out tens of million of dollars in recent years to settle lawsuits brought by persons wrongfully convicted after it was determined police had employed extraordinary rendition techniques to obtain confessions from them. It's further evidence America has morphed into a full-blown Nazi-like state.

The Chicago police department operates an off-the-books interrogation compound, rendering Americans unable to be found by family or attorneys while locked inside what lawyers say is the domestic equivalent of a CIA black site. 

The facility, a nondescript warehouse on Chicago’s west side known as Homan Square, has long been the scene of secretive work by special police units. Interviews with local attorneys and one protester who spent the better part of a day shackled in Homan Square describe operations that deny access to basic constitutional rights.

Alleged police practices at Homan Square, according to those familiar with the facility who spoke out to the Guardian after its investigation into Chicago police abuse, include:

* Keeping arrestees out of official booking databases. 

* Beating by police, resulting in head wounds. 

* Shackling for prolonged periods. 

* Denying attorneys access to the “secure” facility. 

* Holding people without legal counsel for between 12 and 24 hours, including people as young as 15. 

At least one man was found unresponsive in a Homan Square “interview room” and later pronounced dead . . . 

Unlike a precinct, no one taken to Homan Square is said to be booked. Witnesses, suspects or other Chicagoans who end up inside do not appear to have a public, searchable record entered into a database indicating where they are, as happens when someone is booked at a precinct. Lawyers and relatives insist there is no way of finding their whereabouts. Those lawyers who have attempted to gain access to Homan Square are most often turned away, even as their clients remain in custody inside. 

“It’s sort of an open secret among attorneys that regularly make police station visits, this place – if you can’t find a client in the system, odds are they’re there,” said Chicago lawyer Julia Bartmes.

Ironically, this story breaks on a day when Chicago voters head to the polls where the incumbent Mayor Rahm Emanual has raised tens of millions of dollars for his re-election campaign, far outpacing the amount raised by a crowded field of all Democratic-identified opponents. If Emanuel captures one vote more than 50% of the ballots cast in today's primary, the election is over before it really even got started.