Report: Chicago Police Department Operates ‘Black Site’ For Illegal Detention and Torture

The Chicago Police Department has a secure site that they use for illegal detention and torture, according to a report. 

Homan Square is a warehouse the Chicago Police use to detain people as young as 15 without charge or access to council, and are subject to beatings, which have resulted in head wounds, and in one case, death, according to a report from The Guardian.

People who are detained in Homan Square cannot be found in any database, or located by their lawyers or family members, the report said.

Some of the practices that take place at Homan Square allegedly 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.

“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," a Chicago lawyer told The Guardian.

Most of those who have been detained at Homan Square are poor people, but it has also been used for political detention of protesters, according to the report.