Totally agree with Bryan Rasmussen’s first comment. No deaths amongst 7000 seems suspect even under benign circumstances.
It’s not unreasonable to think that a significant proportion of the arrestees might have taken drugs shortly before arrest, that they might have been cold and/or starving at the time of arrest, that they might have been victims of violence within a short timeframe before arrest. Little chance of 100% survival rate even considering things that wouldn’t be the police’s fault.
Then add to this that the entire facility existed primarily so that you could beat the crap out of people with impunity…
This strikes me as trickle down corruption. The tack we’ve taken at the national level of dehumanization of “enemy combatants,” the constant picking apart, and loophol-ing and exemption-ing to death of the tenets of the Geneva convention in the name of “a unique threat” has just battered our will to preserve any kind of humanity into a weak, forgotten tatter. Why wouldn’t a local police department have a black site? The idea that “bad guys” (once properly identified as such) are not human, and thus do not fall under the auspices of justice that was written and constructed for humans practically begs for a zone outside of time and space where the non-humans should be kept. Like a parent with the mouth of a sailor baffled that their child starts swearing, if the federal government responds with “surprise” at this development, it would be ignorant at best. Or maybe everything is corrupt, and the trickling just goes around and around in sick, poisonous circles.
I’m hopeful, because Patrick Fitzgerald only stepped down from the position of U.S. Attorney for the northern district of Illinois (which is mostly “the greater Chicagoland area”) three years ago. I don’t have a feel for the new guy, but Fitzgerald was fearless about doing his job properly. He left that office in good position to continue fighting the good fight.
Although, now you have me wondering why he didn’t take this on while he was in office. I suppose taking on the governor, etc. was more important. Like any state, there’s more than enough high level corruption to keep one busy if the will is there.
From your second link (an interview with the new guy):
Do you feel any pressure to be a public corruption buster like him [meaning his predecessor, Patrick Fitzgerald]?
We continue to commit talent and resources to investigating those
cases, and we will bring charges as warranted. But do I feel pressure
around it? Absolutely not.
The whole tenor of the interview suggests he’s a privileged white guy jerk. That does not bode well.
I read it as diplo-/polispeak for “I am not him, my methods are different, it is stupid to use his work as norm for my term of office.” - not completely unreasonable imho (but you already established that empathy is not my strength - I could be wrong :))
I would agree with you that he’s just trying to say he’s his own man, except for the fact that trying to distance himself from someone who really did bring integrity back to the position. That’s not the time to say “oh, I’m nothing like him”…you know? Something more along the lines of “I respect the man and what he did while in office, and hope to live up to the high standards he set, while at the same time being true to my own way of handling things.”
So maybe the explanation is just that he’s not good with diplo-/polispeak, which wouldn’t entirely be a bad thing!
somewhere I stated that I cannot understand (but try to) a specific situation of another person [or similar, didn’t looked up the exact phrasing]. You replied with “try empathy” and a link to a book
good point, my experience with the situation around Chicago is very limited
