The disappeared: Chicago police detain Americans at abuse-laden ‘black site’ (Homan Square)

Spencer Ackerman, The disappeared: Chicago police detain Americans at abuse-laden ‘black site’. The Guardian, 24 February 2015. “The Chicago police department operates an off-the-books interrogation compound, rendering Americans unable to be found by family or attorneys while locked inside what lawyers say is the domestic equivalent of a CIA black site.”

[Read more…]

Guantánamo torturer [Richard Zuley] led brutal Chicago regime of shackling and confession

Spencer Ackerman, Guantánamo torturer led brutal Chicago regime of shackling and confession. The Guardian, 18 February 2015. “In a dark foreshadowing of the United States’ post-9/11 descent into torture, a Guardian investigation [reveals] that Richard Zuley, a detective on Chicago’s north side from 1977 to 2007, repeatedly engaged in methods of interrogation resulting in at least one wrongful conviction and subsequent cases more recently thrown into doubt following allegations of abuse.” Part One: Bad lieutenant–American police brutality, exported from Chicago to Guantánamo. 18 February 2015. “At the notorious wartime prison, Richard Zuley oversaw a shocking military interrogation that has become a permanent stain on his country. Part One of a Guardian investigation reveals he used disturbingly similar tactics to extract confessions from minorities for years–as a police officer in urban America [Chicago].” Part Two: How Chicago police condemned the innocent: a trail of coerced confessions. 19 February 2015. “Before his interrogation tactics got supercharged on detainees in Guantánamo, Richard Zuley extracted confessions from minority Americans in Chicago–at least one leading to a wrongful conviction. Part Two of a Guardian investigation finds a trail of dubious murder cases and a city considering the costs.”

[Read more…]