chicago police black site exposed

[Sasha]

fucking hell; http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/feb/24/chicago-police-detain-americans-black-site

[piet11111]

Im not surprised it was only a matter of time before these things would start to pop up.

[Mr. Piccolo]

I hate to say this, but I am not surprised at all. The Chicago Police Department is well known for its brutality and extralegal activities.

[G4b3n]

Chicago PD has a long history of human rights violations (slightly more notable than other PDs) as well as political assignations. R.I.P Fred Hampton 12/4/69

[Rafiq]

Considering the demographic of the ass-kissing cop scum, many of whom with "libertarian" sympathies, prattling of Obama (who made minor public statements regarding police abuse which outraged them) as a new totalitarian dictator attempting to curtail the liberties of people on a local level, it would be rather amusing to see what they would have to say about this.

[Sewer Socialist]

Chicago is possibly the most corrupt city in the country, the conservative stronghold of the north. Living there literally drove me crazy.

I was pretty sure such a place existed after I heard about Jon Burge's shit.

Of course, Obama being a product of the same Democratic Party political machine that kept Jon Burge, Blagojevic, the Daleys, etc. in office, it's likely enough that he already knew. If not, has he even said or done a thing about it? Surely he must have considered the possibility, especially having been not only a politician but a professor of constitutional law while these things were happening.

For all his condemnation of the federal abuse of detainees, he hasn't once compared it to the same thing happening in Chicago, at least not publicly.

http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2014/12/chicago-police-torture-jon-burge/383839/

[Mr. Piccolo]

Chicago is possibly the most corrupt city in the country, the conservative stronghold of the north. Living there literally drove me crazy.

I was pretty sure such a place existed after I heard about Jon Burge's shit.

Of course, Obama being a product of the same Democratic Party political machine that kept Jon Burge, Blagojevic, the Daleys, etc. in office, it's likely enough that he already knew. If not, has he even said or done a thing about it? Surely he must have considered the possibility, especially having been not only a politician but a professor of constitutional law while these things were happening.

For all his condemnation of the federal abuse of detainees, he hasn't once compared it to the same thing happening in Chicago, at least not publicly.

http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2014/12/chicago-police-torture-jon-burge/383839/

Pretty much this. Chicago is one of the most segregated, racist cities in the United States. If you talk to white Chicago police in private many will tell you that they are literally at war with the blacks and Hispanics in the city.

There is no attempt to differentiate between gang members and the minority communities at large. Instead, certain neighborhoods are treated like occupied territory in some foreign colony.

[Slavic]

Is the location of this site public knowledge? And if so, why is it not on fire? Is just the general whereabouts known?

[Sasha]

i assume a blacksite, esp one which official use is housing for swat and riot gear, is heavily guarded

[bricolage]

Pretty much this. Chicago is one of the most segregated, racist cities in the United States. If you talk to white Chicago police in private many will tell you that they are literally at war with the blacks and Hispanics in the city.

There is no attempt to differentiate between gang members and the minority communities at large. Instead, certain neighborhoods are treated like occupied territory in some foreign colony.
How much worse would you say it is than other cities in the country? From my experience a lot of US cities are very segregated and the police are known to be racist, but are you saying Chicago is a whole level above?

[bricolage]

“It’s one thing to quell demonstration and protests,” Boykin said, “but it’s another thing to use antiquated Gestapo tactics that are more commonly found in parts of the underdeveloped world or in places like China or Russia.”

“Not in America.”


jesus, the fucking delusion of it all...

[Mr. Piccolo]

How much worse would you say it is than other cities in the country? From my experience a lot of US cities are very segregated and the police are known to be racist, but are you saying Chicago is a whole level above?

I believe Chicago is still the most segregated large city in America. This article is from 2012 but it probably still very accurate and has a nice map of the racial geography of Chicago.

http://chicagoist.com/2012/01/31/chicago_is_still_americas_most_segr.php

As far as the Chicago Police Department being racist, I am not sure if it is the most racist but it is up there. Former Chicago police commander Jon Burge ran a torture ring in Chicago that seemed to specifically and gleefully target African-Americans.


Forty years ago, a rookie Chicago police detective named Jon Burge tortured Anthony Holmes using electric shock and suffocation, causing him to crawl on the floor in pain. Lacing this torture with racial epithets, Burge initiated a pattern of dehumanizing abuse that would terrorize at least 120 African- American men, their families and the black community for the next twenty years. This pattern was marked not only by its uniquely brutal tactics, but also by its overtly racist motivation. Burge referred to his notorious electric shock device as the “n***er box,” used the term “n***er” as part of his torture routine, and also used the term to describe his victims in boastful conversations with friends and even casual acquaintances.

One day, when asked by an acquaintance about his work investigating homicides, he remarked that he had been “dealing with dead f***ing
n***ers all day.” His “right-hand men,” Sgt. John Byrne and Detective Peter Dignan, also repeatedly used the term, including during interrogations, introducing the plastic cover used for suffocation by saying they had “something special for n***ers,” and threatening to hang another suspect by pointing to a noose dangling from the basement ceiling and saying they “hang n***ers around here all the time.” Burge and his confederates often focused their torture and brutality on the genitals of their victims.

You can read the full, uncensored article here:
http://www.thenation.com/article/173027/racism-torture-and-impunity-chicago

[Sewer Socialist]

Is the location of this site public knowledge? And if so, why is it not on fire? Is just the general whereabouts known?

I'm assuming it's the CPD facility at 1011 S Homan Ave.

edit: confirmed - http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2015/02/25/chicago-police-deny-west-side-facility-used-for-illegal-detentions/

[Os Cangaceiros]

Police blacksite? Aren't they usually located in the back of the police station?

These cops actually needed to go somewhere else in order to beat a confession out of people? Tsk tsk

[ckaihatsu]

http://www.revleft.com/vb/saturday-feb-28-t192429/index.html

[Sewer Socialist]

Also, I imagine that people didn't immediately take to the streets because Chicago's had a fairly cold week, and Chicagoans aren't super outdoorsy. If it was the summer, the West side (neighborhood around the building) would probably be pretty loud and rowdy.

This coming week will be a little warmer, though.

Also, Chicago political organizations are much more formal and stuffy, and are probably only planning protests so far. I'm sure you'll see "community leaders" and aldermen rallying their followers for support about this soon.

[ckaihatsu]

I attended, and organizers were saying that there's a follow-up protest for this Monday at Daley Plaza, 6pm.

[Vladimir Innit Lenin]

How the fuck has this not made bigger waves?

It makes me laugh that because of political history, communism is associated with the former USSR, Cuba, North Korea and East Germany, and often the main criticism of these countries is how 'oppressed' and, in the case of East Germany for example, spied on their populations were. The narrative is always that in the 1980s they were fed up with their lack of 'freedoms' and revolted against totalitarianism. Yet here we sit today, knowing that probably every key we type into our computers is accessible, the same for every text or e-mail we send and every phone call we make. We know that the metadata for each of these is certainly held and that, without too much difficulty, our webcams can be turned on etc. And we know about gitmo, and Blackwater's antics in the Middle East. We know about police brutality, and now we know about things like this. And yet, still we hear that we live in a free society.

I don't condone what happened in previous communist states at all, but if it weren't so serious I would just chuckle at the naivety and complacency of people who think that we do not live under exactly the same quasi-totalitarian states that people of the Soviet bloc did.

[ckaihatsu]

This is a peaceful demonstration with goals and objectives. Here is what we seek to accomplish together through action:

1. Public scrutiny/accountability: We demand a public inspection of Homan Square today.

2. Transparency: We demand that all people arrested in Chicago must be booked immediately upon arrest and given access to a phone with which they can call an attorney.

3) Roundtable discussion: We demand a special meeting be called with 10 days that would allow the public to ask questions of supervising CPD officers about what happens inside Homan Square and other facilities. We have formally submitted this request to the News Affairs division within the CPD and we urge them to approve our request immediately.

4) Information availability: We demand that a poster be placed at all CPD facilities that informs people of their rights and of phone numbers they can call to have a pro bono attorney present at the station. The poster must include information for contacting First Defense Legal Aid, 1(800)

529-7374, 1(800)LAW-REP4, and other pro bono nonprofit legal providers.

[ckaihatsu]

Urgent

Pack the courtroom on Monday March 2 (trial may continue to March 4).

Dirksen Federal Bldg 219 S. Dearborn Court Room 2119, 9:00a

Federal Civil Case for Darius Pinex.


This outrage must not go unopposed. People are murdered, tortured, incarcerated and repeatedly no justice. Stand with the Pinex family. And all those victims of police murder.


#ShutDownA14


for more info contact Chicago Revolution Club 312-804-9121


---


http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-chicago-police-fatal-shooting-trial-met-20150227-story.html


News
Recording in police shooting suddenly found, prompting cries of foul

http://www.trbimg.com/img-54f135d4/turbine/chi-darius-pinex-ct0019976958-20111021/400/225x400
Darius Pinex was fatally shot by Chicago police in January 2011. (Family photo)

By Jason Meisner
Chicago Tribune

contact the reporter

FEBRUARY 27, 2015, 8:15 PM

Chicago police Officer Raoul Mosqueda's story about the night he and his partner fatally shot a man during a South Side traffic stop remained unchanged for four years.

In sworn depositions and again on a federal witness stand earlier this week, Mosqueda repeatedly said he pulled over Darius Pinex's Oldsmobile Aurora in January 2011 because it matched the description he'd heard over his police radio of a car involved in a shooting and pursuit that had occupants who might be armed.

But no recording of the dispatch was ever produced. As the wrongful death lawsuit filed by Pinex's family went to trial this week, attorneys for the city insisted it didn't exist. Even as Mosqueda repeated his claims about the dispatch call to a jury Wednesday, the recording was still missing.

Then suddenly, it wasn't.

The day after Mosqueda's testimony, it was revealed the emergency broadcast had been found after all, and that city attorneys had waited two days before notifying the other side. Mosqueda had claimed the radio dispatch described the car as dark green with rimmed wheels similar to Pinex's vehicle, but the 20-second recording had no such detail. Both cars had a temporary license plate, but the plate on Pinex's Oldsmobile didn't match the number read over the radio.

And the dispatcher made no mention of the car being involved in a shooting or that the occupants could be armed and dangerous, all cited by Mosqueda as reasons he and his partner, Officer Gildardo Sierra, decided to stop Pinex's vehicle. The call relayed only that officers in the South Chicago District had chased an Oldsmobile with temporary plates — 3 1/2 hours before Pinex's shooting and more than 6 miles away — and that a sergeant had called off the pursuit.

On Friday, after jurors heard the recording, Mosqueda was forced to retake the stand and try to explain the discrepancy.

Saying he had testified "to the best of my ability of what I remembered," Mosqueda contended he was justified in his belief that the car was the same one that had been pursued by police earlier that night.

"A vehicle pursuit can be for a shooting and also a high-risk traffic pursuit," Mosqueda testified. "So what I believed was the vehicle was involved in something of that nature."

In a testy exchange, Robert Johnson, an attorney for a passenger who was also shot in the incident, all but accused Mosqueda of lying under oath.

"You needed that car to be involved in a shooting to justify shooting it full of holes, didn't you?" Johnson asked at one point as Mosqueda's attorney shouted an objection.

The sudden appearance of the evidence in the midst of a trial prompted the plaintiff lawyers to ask U.S. District Judge Edmond Chang to issue a rare directed finding in their favor. Chang stopped short of taking that step, but the judge ripped city attorneys, saying there was no explanation for why the recording was not produced earlier.

Pinex was fatally shot in the early morning hours of Jan. 7, 2011, after Mosqueda and Sierra pulled him over at Marquette Road and Racine Avenue. Both officers have testified they opened fire after Pinex refused orders and threw the car into reverse, striking a light pole before shifting the car into drive and gunning the vehicle forward.

The Tribune first disclosed in 2011 that within six months of Pinex's death, Sierra was involved in two other shootings, all after midnight in the crime-plagued Englewood community. In the third incident, Sierra was captured on videotape fatally shooting an unarmed Flint Farmer after he claimed to have mistaken a cellphone Farmer was holding for a gun. The Cook County state's attorney's office declined to file criminal charges against Sierra.

Tribune reporters Stacy St. Clair and Jeremy Gorner contributed.

[email protected]

Twitter @jmetr22b

Copyright © 2015, Chicago Tribune

[ckaihatsu]

Join CODEPINK Chicago to Shut Down Homan!


CODEPINK


March 3, 2015

Dear Chris,

Join CODEPINK Chicago on Thursday March 5th at 12:00pm as we demand that Homan be shut down now! Homan Square is a notorious facility where Chicago police have illegally held, tortured, and intimidated civilians. The facility would not exist without the complicity and protection of Mayor Emanuel and Anita Alvarez, Illinois Cook Co District Attorney. Unfortunately, Homan is not the only site where police violence and denial of due process take place. This is a typical practice used by many police stations in the Chicago area, where it is predominantly members of African American and Latino communities who are treated unjustly. The right to counsel should be available to all, not just reserved for a select few.

Join us as we demand that Mayor Rahm Emanuel:

1. Close down Homan Square Warehouse immediately

2. Fire Chicago Police Superintendent Gary McCarthy

2. Pass the Torture Reparations Ordinance

3. Order the permanent display of 1-800-LAW-REP4 for First Defense Legal Aid in all police stations. This service offers free legal representation for anyone in the first 48 hours from the moment of arrest and would save between $12.7 and $43.9 million annually.

We then demand that the mayor issue an apology to the people of Chicago and all those who have been affected by the Homan Square Police Warehouse.

>When: Thursday March 5th, 12:00-2:00pm RSVP here!

>Where: 3379 West Fillmore St, Chicago IL

CODEPINK Chicago is committed to opposing the unjust torture and treatment of prisoners. We hope you will join us for this important action!

In solidarity,

Pat Hunt and the CODEPINK Chicago team








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[ckaihatsu]

#Gitmo2Chicago - Shut It Down!


Chris,

On Saturday February 28, about 200 people gathered on the West Side (http://org.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=bk3Ig8qMPNcqWQi8S6DuinmJUtEzkc%2Fo) of Chicago to protest Chicago's very own black site, Homan Square. Revelations about this site run by the Chicago Police Department came to light in a recent article in the Guardian newspaper (http://org.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=oFk8XZtGnzr6hagIuxNrE3mJUtEzkc%2Fo). It revealed that the Chicago PD has been operating this facility where people are detained for prolonged periods of time, with no access to lawyers, and some have been tortured. Chicago World Can't Wait could not help but make the connections between this facility and Guantanamo Bay Prison.

The battle to close down this black site continues:

What: Protest!

When: Noon, Saturday, March 7

Where: Homan Square, 3379 W. Fillmore St., Chicago

If you are on Facebook, please "join" and share the event (http://org.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=D7njVM34Cu5%2Fay8e2L3QEHmJUtEzkc%2Fo) there.

http://org.salsalabs.com/o/1170/images/Chicago/Guantanamo/11050723_500030966802824_8349084436746823625_n.jpg

For years, this facility has operated without any oversight. Residents of the West Side, who are overwhelmingly Black or Latino, are familiar with it because they have been the target of this monstrosity. The use of torture by Chicago PD is well documented but the fact that there is a facility where police systematically carry out these crimes is chilling. Chicago World Can't Wait made the connection that it isn't just what our government does to Americans here, but that these are the kind of crimes that are perpetrated by our government on people around the world.

While last week's protest attracted an unusual amount of press, (http://org.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=vyPB1kF0OndeXrxXA%2F%2FaUnmJUtEzkc%2Fo) politicians' denials and local Chicago media's downplaying of this hideous story have also spread some confusion. We recommend this piece by Flint Taylor, (http://org.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=Dr%2BoU5IKSNV6cR4IZL2Lo3mJUtEzkc%2Fo) an attorney who represented the family of Fred Hampton, Black Panther leader murdered by Chicago police and FBI, and many survivors of CPD torture.

A member of Chicago World Can't Wait highlighted the real connections to Guantanamo at last Saturday's rally:

"This trail of torture is long and winding. It leads from the cold concrete cells of Homan Square and Chicago's police stations to the stark cages of Guantanamo's Camp Delta...from the napalm-seared war against the liberation fighters of Vietnam in the 1960s to the attacks by occupying armies of police in the ghettos and barrios of Chicago over the last 40 years.

"These torture techniques have been honed in U.S. wars against people around the world - CPD Detective Jon Burge learned his in Vietnam - and the torture inflicted on people on the South and West Sides of Chicago was 'exported' to Guantanamo, where they took on even more gruesome forms:

water-boarding over and over again

held in cages in freezing cold and grueling heat

loud noise and light 24 hours a day

held for years with no charges, no trial, no end

"And then you have Richard Zuley, a Chicago cop (http://org.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=BZG%2Fh71CiaiHXlc71%2FDyb3mJUtEzkc%2Fo) who learned his torture techniques here in Chicago and then took them to Guantanamo where he participated in torture there. We are wearing these orange jumpsuits today as a reminder of that torture and a symbol of solidarity with all the lives ruined and destroyed in this war OF terror. It is a symbol that is recognized around the world and it needs to be understood here too.

"We need to ask ourselves: What kind of country, what kind of system, breaks the most fundamental rules of humanity and law to terrorize whole peoples, whether on Chicago's West Side or in Afghanistan's Salt Pit? Because that is what this is — TERROR. A system that can only survive with such means, a system that has lost all legitimacy. It’s on us to stop thinking like Americans, stop putting American lives above anyone else’s, and start thinking about humanity.

Put Humanity and the Planet First - The World Can’t Wait!"

http://org.salsalabs.com/o/1170/images/Chicago/Guantanamo/Gitmo2Chicago_Protest_IMG_3057.JPG

Chicago Chapter, The World Can't Wait!

Follow us on Twitter @ChicagoWCW * "Like" us on Facebook

World Can't Wait - National: worldcantwait.net 866.973.4463
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News from the Chicago Chapter

WCW Chapter Meeting * THIS Monday, March 9 * 7 PM *
St. Gertrude's * 6214 N. Glenwood, a few blocks west of Granville stop on Red line. Please join us.

* * * * * * * *

WHY SUSTAIN WORLD CAN'T WAIT?
Here are just a few examples of what sustainers will make possible this spring:
* Reaching students who can’t remember before the wars or a world without Guantanamo, through speaking tours and creative outreach;

* Spring Rising: an antiwar intervention in Washington DC

*April 14: #ShutDownA14, a day of “no business as usual” to stop police murder, nationwide

* Continuing protest and exposure of war criminals.

All sustainers receive special quarterly newsletters. Sign up today and your first newsletter will arrive in May. Sustainers who give $25 a month or more will get a “Humanity and the Planet Come First” Tote Bag.

Are you a sustainer already? Write [email protected] about why you are a sustainer of World Can’t Wait and we’ll feature your statement in our next newsletter and on our webpage.
World Can't Wait depends on YOUR support to continue our work - Thanks!

[ckaihatsu]

Black Site Chicago: It's Not Open for Tours - Labor Beat on YouTube


Black Site Chicago:
It's Not Open for Tours

On YouTube at:
zVNwP4nBeTM

Also archived at:
laborbeat.org

In a protest action at Chicago's Homan Square black site, about 150 people gathered on Saturday, Feb. 28, 2015 at the corner of Homan and Fillmore in Chicago. Mainstream out-of-town publications, such as the Guardian in England, recently stirred things up with articles about a police facility in Chicago disturbingly similar to CIA 'black' operations in foreign countries.

Chicago-are journalist Kim Scipes (President of the Chicago local of the National Writers Union/UAW) talked about what a black site is: "A black site simply is a place that's not acknowledge to even exist...There's no oversight...it's like comparable to CIA operations in the Middle East...Somebody could be detained by the Chicago Police Department, nobody knows, it doesn't go into the central booking system, so lawyers can't find clients, clients can't get their lawyers, there's no constitutional rights. It's a total abrogation of the Constitution."

Up to now, the Chicago Police Department and the City of Chicago are ignoring requests for an impartial investigation of the Homan Ave. site's operations, or for public inspections.

Andy Thayer (Gay Liberation Network) said that the existence of the site was not only a moral outrage and violation of the Constitution, but a budget issue: "The City paid out $50 million plus last year alone due to police misconduct. The City in 2013 settled a class action lawsuit for $16.5 million to stop them from abusing people in the overnight lockups at the regular CPD stations. Things like sleep deprivation, things like handcuffing people to the walls of interrogation rooms for hours on end, denial of access to restrooms. So to find out that they're operating an off-the-books site here [Homan Ave.] and thus potentially setting up the city for millions of dollars more in wrongful police misconduct lawsuits is just absurd. We're a city that's swimming in red ink."

Homan Square has also created a political problem in the final weeks to the April 7 runoff mayoral election between Rahm Emanuel and Chuy Garcia. Both candidates have, as of the date of the publication of this video, steered clear of saying anything about the black site.

"I think it's outrageous," Thayer noted, "that [Mayor] Emanuel promised 1,000 more cops and unfortunately Chuy Garcia [the Mayor's opponent] repeated that ridiculous demand in the current race. And yet, to my knowledge neither of them have spoken out substantively about investigating Homan Square."

"We specifically invited Chuy", added attorney Billy Joe Mills (Firmequity), "and he said 'no'. This is an international story and he can't be bothered to travel to the west side of his own city he wants to become mayor of to give his comments."

The only run-off candidate for the 2015 election who showed up at the Feb. 28 protest, or who has expressed any support, was businesswoman Vetress Boyce, running in the 24th Ward, where the Homan facility is located.

Also appearing in this video are: Edward Ward (a leader of recent Loop protests against national racist police killings); and David Rodriguez (Chicago Anonymous). Length - 14:34

http://s1.postimg.org/h5xyde5sv/150228_Homan_Square_1_Labor_Beat.jpg
Cop watches from door on third floor of Homan Ave. black site. Photo: Labor Beat

http://s1.postimg.org/5uvap0yxr/150228_Homan_Square_2_Labor_Beat.jpg
Attorney Billy Joe Mills (R) asks to schedule a public inspection of facilities, while
an officer (L) tells him "It's not open for tours." Photo: Labor Beat

http://s1.postimg.org/pzouuhsrj/150228_Homan_Square_3_Labor_Beat.jpg
Crowd of activists and journalists assemble at the Homan black site on Feb. 28, 2015.
Photo: Labor Beat

Produced by Labor Beat. Labor Beat is a CAN TV Community Partner. Labor Beat is a non-profit 501(c)(3) member of IBEW 1220. Views are those of the producer Labor Beat. For info: [email protected], www.laborbeat.org. 312-226-3330. For other Labor Beat videos, visit YouTube and search "Labor Beat".

Labor Beat's facebook page:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/LABOR-BEAT/167503422257

To order this dvd from Labor Beat (Committee for Labor Access):

BUY DVD - CLICK HERE (https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=9872013)

(Put title of DVD, "Black Site Chicago" in Description box. Put $15 in Unit Price box. $20 for Canada, and $25 for other countries outside the U.S. NTSC format only.)

[Sewer Socialist]

http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/mar/11/homan-square-chicago-police-marijuana

Holy shit! I know that guy.

It's an interview with two people who were taken there.

There's another interview at http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/mar/04/chicago-police-masked-raid-homan-square