Home Daily News Suit follows newspaper claim that Chicago…

Constitutional Law

Suit follows newspaper claim that Chicago police ran 'domestic equivalent of a CIA black site'

In a federal civil rights lawsuit filed Monday, three individuals accuse the Chicago police department of using “unconstitutionally coercive and torturous tactics” at an “off the books police detention, interrogation, and intelligence gathering center.”

Earlier coverage before the Chicago litigation was filed, by the British newspaper The Guardian, described the Homan Square facility on the city’s West Side as “the domestic equivalent of a CIA black site,” the Associated Press reports.

In addition to using coercive tactics on individuals being held, police made it difficult or impossible for them to obtain legal counsel, alleges the suit filed by civil rights attorney Flint Taylor on behalf of Atheris Mann, Jessie Patrick and Deanda Wilson. The three were acquitted of what they claim were bogus drug charges at a bench trial earlier this year.

A spokesman for the city’s law department didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. However, city officials have previously denied allegations made in a series of Guardian articles, and said news conferences were routinely held at what was claimed to be a secret police facility, the AP reports.

“The allegation that physical violence is a part of interviews with suspects is unequivocally false,” a police spokesman said at one point. “It is offensive, and it is not supported by any facts whatsoever.”

Related coverage:

The Guardian: “Homan Square revealed: how Chicago police ‘disappeared’ 7,000 people”

The Guardian: “Chicago sued for ‘unconstitutional and torturous’ Homan Square police abuse”

ABAJournal.com: “Chicago cops denied lawyers access to ‘off-the-books interrogation compound,’ published report says”