CPD Denies Report of Beatings, Secret Interrogations in Homan Square

Published report in Britain's The Guardian described the Homan Square warehouse as an "off-the-books interrogation compound .... [that] is the domestic equivalent of a CIA black site"

Suspects taken to a Chicago Police Department facility in Chicago's North Lawndale neighborhood aren't beaten or denied access to their legal representation, a department spokesman said this week.

The statement from Martin Maloney, released Tuesday, was in response to a published report in Britain's The Guardian, which described the Homan Square warehouse as an "off-the-books interrogation compound .... [that] is the domestic equivalent of a CIA black site."

The report includes statements from Brian Church, who was among a group of men who became known as the "NATO 3," and Chicago attorney Flint Taylor, who fought hard to get former Mayor Richard Daley to testify in a police torture case related to former Cmdr. Jon Burge.

Church alleged he was put in handcuffs for 17 hours and interrogated without being read his Miranda rights and was denied access to an attorney.

In his statement, Maloney denied the allegations.

"If lawyers have a client detained at Homan Square, just like any other facility, they are allowed to speak to and visit them," he said.

Furthermore, he refuted the insinuation that the facility was "off-the-books," saying that there's always a record of anyone who is arrested by police officers. He said the building is considered "sensitive" because officers who work there are often involved in undercover assignments. Other units housed at the facility include the Bureau of Organized Crime, SWAT Unit Evidence Technicians, and the CPD ballistics lab, he said.

"The allegation that physical violence is a part of interviews with suspects is unequivocally false, it is offensive, and it is not supported by any facts whatsoever," he said.

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