WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — Chicago detention facility at Homan Square where police officers allegedly held US citizens against their will in order to force them into confessions functioned in a way similar to a South American military operation, US advocacy group PoliceAbuse.com Executive Director Diop Kamau told Sputnik.
“The operation of the facility appears to fly in the face of all basic standards guaranteeing a citizen’s right to an attorney, basic standards regarding your right to have access to phone calls and visits, and it appears to be run in the same manner as a South American military operation,” Kamau said.
On Monday, the Guardian revealed that around 7,000 Chicago citizens had been held on the highly secret Homan Square facility against their will by Chicago Police Department (CPD) officers.
Kamau called the practices at the so-called Black Site an “abomination against the American criminal justice system.”
“That just shows that we’re not that different from other places in the world and that we do a lot of preaching about the level of guaranteed rights that citizens have as protections in the United States that simply are just not true,” he continued.
Kamau added the facility has been operating for a long time with full knowledge of Chicago police administration, including top officials.
“This facility could not be run without the knowledge of the most high ranking officers in the Chicago police department and perhaps other city officials,” Kamau said.
The CPD did not respond to Sputnik’s inquiries about their response to the lawsuit and allegations made in the latest Homan Square report.
