Craig Futterman: Problem is Not A Single Police "Black Site"; It's Systemic

Chicago Police's So-Called 'Black Site' Mischaracterized

Lawyers and local crime reporters say a widely-shared article from The Guardian mischaracterized a Chicago Police Department facility called Homan Square as the equivalent of a CIA "black site."

Black sites house detainees who undergo interrogation in highly secretive prisons. But the non-descript Homan Square building on the city’s West Side is not exactly off-the-books.

In the past few years WBEZ reporters and other journalists have been to the facility for tours and interviews as well as press conferences.

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Craig Futterman, a clinical professor of law at the University of Chicago, said prisoners are held without being entered into the system all over the city, not just Homan Square.

Futterman says it’s an exaggeration to call it a "black site."

“If there’s a risk, I think it’s elevating this facility,” Futterman said. “And making it look like there’s a problem in one particular station, as opposed to there’s a broader systemic problem to people who are very vulnerable who are denied their basic fundamental constitutional right.”

Read more at WBEZ