Apparently, this has stopped, and the staffers have relented and allowed the (possibly former) supporters to be permitted to leave. Rightwingers on twitter are being their usual selves, basically saying "so we held people against their will without cause, what's the big deal?" ("It wasn't even that cold!" being an actual quote against a mom who was concerned about her kid getting frostbite).

But, in fact, this IS a big deal. You see, rightwingers, you're not allowed to restrain people without their consent except under very limited circumstances---its called "false imprisonment.

False imprisonment is generally defined as the unlawful restraint of a person against her will by someone without legal authority or justification.

Generally, false imprisonment is both a civil and criminal offense. For the civil offense, all that is needed is the following elements:



There must have been a willful detention;

The detention must have been without consent; and

The detention was unlawful.

All of these are met here.

It gets even worse for the staffers because they detained kids. Pennsylvania criminal law specifically notes that this a felony offense.

Given that the PA AG is a Republican, we can expect this to be swept under the rug. But I'd urge you, particularly PA readers, to contact them, and let them know that, yes, the law applies to everyone, even to GOP staffers desperate to stop an electoral defeat.