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US attorney general: Homan Square findings are 'extremely important'
Source: The Guardian
US attorney general: Homan Square findings are 'extremely important'
Loretta Lynch acknowledges potential constitutional concerns
Chicago police facility could be investigated if new information comes to light
Dan Roberts in Washington
Monday 7 December 2015 19.24 GMT
The US attorney general, Loretta Lynch, has described allegations of unlawful detention at Chicago’s Homan Square police facility as “extremely important”, in the first official acknowledgement by the US Justice Department that the off-the-books interrogation warehouse may pose constitutional concerns.
The nation’s top law enforcement official also warned that a new federal investigation into racial bias in Chicago police department practices could be expanded to include the treatment of prisoners at the facility, if more information were to come to light.
A transparency lawsuit brought by the Guardian revealed last month that more than 7,000 detainees had been “disappeared” at Homan Square – most held without access to lawyers or notification of their presence at the secretive facility.
Nearly 6,000 of those held between August 2004 and June 2015 were black, but only 68 were allowed access to attorneys or a public notice of their whereabouts, according to obtained internal police records.
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Loretta Lynch acknowledges potential constitutional concerns
Chicago police facility could be investigated if new information comes to light
Dan Roberts in Washington
Monday 7 December 2015 19.24 GMT
The US attorney general, Loretta Lynch, has described allegations of unlawful detention at Chicago’s Homan Square police facility as “extremely important”, in the first official acknowledgement by the US Justice Department that the off-the-books interrogation warehouse may pose constitutional concerns.
The nation’s top law enforcement official also warned that a new federal investigation into racial bias in Chicago police department practices could be expanded to include the treatment of prisoners at the facility, if more information were to come to light.
A transparency lawsuit brought by the Guardian revealed last month that more than 7,000 detainees had been “disappeared” at Homan Square – most held without access to lawyers or notification of their presence at the secretive facility.
Nearly 6,000 of those held between August 2004 and June 2015 were black, but only 68 were allowed access to attorneys or a public notice of their whereabouts, according to obtained internal police records.
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Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/dec/07/us-attorney-general-homan-square-findings-are-extremely-important