All Around The Blogs... And Some News Too

I'm mixing things up a bit for this edition of NewsWatch. There's been a lot going on that I wanted to cover, much of it already being covered in other blogs, so here we go.

...First we'll start out locally as always:

Is King County Executive Ron Sims' Head In The Clouds?
The Seattle Weekly asks if King County Executive Ron Sims already has his head somewhere other than in his own troubled county as rumors abound about him being offered a position in Obama's administration...

Well, given his abysmal record of civil rights abuses in King County in defunding the Sheriff's department's accountability efforts and for the deadly abuses still occurring at the King County Jail that he's personally defended by suggesting that detainees have no rights to protect, we can only hope that he'll be gone soon...

Of course, only given with the provision that he's not given a post with Obama that has anything whatsoever to do with civil rights.

Five Before Midnight Reports On Suit Against Riverside Police Filed By LAPD Officer
FBM at Five Before Midnight writes about the LAPD officer who is suing the city of Riverside, where he lives, after he was harassed in his own yard by Riverside police officers for, well, apparently for being black in the wrong neighborhood.

She posts some of the more disturbing details concerning how officers forced him to the ground and had him lay on hot pavement in 90+ degree heat while several other patrol cars arrived, despite the off-duty officer's plea to let him show officers he lived there and was a fellow officer.

Later in that same post, however, it gets more disturbing as FBM talks about how Riverside police officers have been harassing her over the years. Sadly, as citizens who report on police abuses and misconduct, we are expected to be harassed, at least according to lawyers I've talked with in the past about my own experiences with police writing me.

It's strange really, if any other public official were to use the threat of their own public office against a citizen it would be all over the news, but if it's a cop threatening civilians who report on police misconduct, it's looked at as a good thing by the public... which reminds me...

More Details Released About Maryland Cops Who Spied On Peace Activists
Apparently, the Maryland State Patrol had been spying on peace activists for years and had added many of them to federal terrorist watchlists and databases. Those accused of being terrorists include:
1 former congressional candidate, 1 registered lobbyist, and 2 catholic nuns...

The ACLU of Maryland has filed a lawsuit in the case, which led to the release of files which have now revealed the latest facts in this case and is working to have these people removed from the databases they were wrongfully added to and to prevent the police from doing this again.

Now, I'm pretty sure I've been spied on, I get several hits a month from the local police department here to the site. I'm also pretty sure I've been added to at least a TSA watchlist given the way I was treated the last time I flew... But the Washington State ACLU would never do what their counterparts in Maryland are doing to protect civil rights, judging by how they mishandled their obligation to monitor detainee treatment at the King County Jail. I guess the left coast isn't so left after all.

Will "KopBusters Cause More Harm Than Good?
Scott from Simple Justice wonders whether the sting operation performed by self-help video site "KopBusters" might turn into a shameless type of Running Man-type reality show, which would do more harm than good to the police accountability movement. I sort of wonder the same thing, actually...

but then I asked, if not that, what can we do to convince the public that addressing rampant police misconduct is in everyone's best interest? If all the news stories out there, all the video evidence, all the court trials and settlements, all the investigations, and even the shameless stunts by organizations like KopBusters can't convince the public that there is a systemic problem with police abuses that is affecting them... then what will?

We're all still looking for that answer, I'm afraid.

The Agitator: Policewoman's Home Surrounded By SWAT Teams...For Being Charitable
Radley Balko at The Agitator posts about Captain Christine Michalosky, a police officer long respected both inside and outside of the department, who prompted a SWAT team to surround her house and terrify her neighbors because the police thought she might be mentally ill...

why?

...because she bought presents for underprivileged kids in her district.

The Latest On Mineo at Blue Must Be True
Karl at Blue Must Be True discusses the latest development in the Mineo Case where three NYPD officers that were accused of assaulting and sodomizing Michael Mineo with a collapsible baton have been indicted.

Karl thinks this case doesn't seem to rise to the same purposeful intent of torture that the infamous Abner Louima case in NY did... of course, I can't say much because it seemed too outrageous to be believable at first that the same department that went through so much negative press for officers sodomizing someone in the past would have officers brazen enough to dare and do it yet again...

Shows what I know.

More Details Released About That FBI Sting Operation In Chicago
The Chicago Tribune has released some of the text in the DOJ's case against 15 law enforcement officers in the Chicago area, including this pertinent passage that explains exactly what those corrupt officers were caught doing:

"A six-passenger, twin propeller engine aircraft flew on May 13 this year into west suburban DuPage Airport where three men awaited its arrival. Two of them—Ahyetoro A. Taylor and Raphael Manuel, both Cook County Sheriff's Office correctional officers—accompanied an individual whom they believed brokered large-scale drug transactions but, in fact, was an undercover FBI agent. They boarded the aircraft, which was operated by two other undercover agents, and began counting packages of what was purported to be at least 80 kilograms of cocaine stashed inside four duffel bags.

Taylor, Manuel and the undercover agent they accompanied removed the duffels from the plane and took them through the airport lobby to the trunk of the agent's car in the parking lot. Taylor and Manuel, in a separate car, followed the agent to a nearby retail parking lot, where the agent parked and got into the officers' vehicle. Together, the trio watched as yet another undercover agent arrived, removed the duffels from the trunk of the parked car, placed them in a Mercedes and drove away. The FBI agent posing as the drug broker then paid Taylor and Manuel $4,000 each—allegedly their most profitable payday in the corrupt relationship they began with the undercover agent at least a year earlier."

Again, apparently even a sting like this, run by our own government, isn't enough to convince people that police misconduct is a serious issue that affects us all. After all, as one busted Chicago officer said a while back, it all starts out small, then the next thing you know, you're doing all sorts of illegal stuff as an officer while convincing yourself that you're still one of the good guys.

The Innocence Project Blog: DNA Tests Could Exonerate Connecticut Man
The Innocence Project Blog talks about how their requests to have evidence tested in a 20 year old murder case has led police to a different suspect with a history of sexual assaults.

The interesting thing about this is the news article they point to which merely mentions the fact that a man has sat behind bars for 20 years for a crime he never committed, while a guilty man ran free and committed more assaults and murders, as an aside... missing the point that when police go after the wrong person they have also caused the public harm by letting a guilty man go scott-free... and showing that the media tends to be reluctant to talk about when our justice system fails us.

West Haven Connecticut PD Pays $400,000 Excessive Force Settlement
In September of 2002, 18 year old Gary Tyson was hiding in bushes along side Route I-95 when officers released a police dog to flush him out. Tyson ran and was killed by a truck as he crossed the highway. An autopsy later revealed that he had 24 separate puncture wounds from multiple bites, all stemming from an alleged fist fight.

Officers were cleared in an internal investigation and never faced criminal trial, but the city claimed it didn't know how a jury would look at police unleashing a dog on a misdemeanor suspect like that and would rather have insurance pay a settlement instead of risking having to pay for a full finding against them in court.

Sadly, this is the way governments look at the problem... Apparently it's cheaper for them to let their cops abuse citizens and let insurance providers soak up the costs in the aftermath... Meanwhile, Gary's family will never get their son back, and who knows what the next family will have to endure as well.

We reported on another settlement yesterday in Connecticut... how can one state so small have so much police misconduct?

Who Will Watch The Watchmen Now

When three ex-Seattle police officers formed VIEVU with the idea to develop a small wearable camera for police officers that would help reduce the number of false misconduct accusations against police officers and provide them with a useful tool to gather evidence while on the job, it's unlikely that they imagined that the most resistance to their idea would come from their peers and old coworkers at the Seattle Police Department.

The VIEVU is a three ounce rectangular wearable wireless audio/video recording device that is capable of storing up to 4 hours of video that supposedly cannot be manipulated or erased. Approximately the shape of an older style pager, the device can be clipped on a uniform or belt and allows the officer to record potentially volatile interactions or situations from his or her own perspective. The device cannot be tampered with and the recordings cannot be modified even after they are downloaded from the devices onto a central computer system.

In this regard, the VIEVU is unlike dashboard mounted cameras used in police cruisers that only point forward and have been known to miss recording disputed police interactions, such as the case of Maikoiyo Alley-Barnes who could be heard pleading for officers to stop beating him on a dash-mounted police camera that was not positioned to record the actual beating. So this could be a valuable tool that protects officers who have been wrongfully accused of misconduct and to hold officers accountable who do commit acts of misconduct.

However, the Seattle Police Officer's Guild has forced the Seattle Police Department to suspend it's testing of the VIEVU after it was used to help monitor an August 29th Critical Mass bicycle ride through the city of Seattle as a test of the portable recording system. When asked about the guild's problems with the device, Sgt. Rich O'Neill, president of the guild, cited privacy concerns along with the need for officers to undergo training and preparation for potential litigation as reasons for the guild's resistance to the camera.

O'Neill also argued, in an interview with the Seattle Times, that the devices may make it harder for officers to gather evidence in cases instead of making it easier. "If the officers have the cameras going all the time there could be a chilling effect on citizens and juvenile talking to the police. If they think the cops are videotaping all of their conversations they might not want to have their names or faces used." O'Neill was quoted as saying.

Surprisingly, the guild has an ally in it's argument against the cameras in the form of the ACLU of Washington State, headquartered in Seattle, Washington. In an interview taken before the guild stopped the department's testing of the device, Christina Drummond, the Technology and Liberty Project Director for the ACLU of Washington, cited similar concerns over the use of the device.

Are these concerns founded in an age where the common citizenry is told that there should be no expectation of privacy in public? Where workers in the private sector are allowed to be recorded by their employers while on the job and where the police themselves monitor citizens with CCTV cameras positioned on street corners and in public parks?

Why is it that a police officer should have a special expectation of privacy where the common citizen does not? Why is their supposed fear of accountability still taken seriously when they already have job security protections that most of us could only dream of, when it's already nearly impossible to fire a police officer for misconduct?

Now, it's certainly true that the implementation of such devices should be paired with a very well-thought out policy that dictates when and how the devices should be used, that prevent reviewing of recorded materials except for gathering known evidence or incidents that have received complaints. It does seem clear that there was little thought put into the testing performed at the SPD and there have been no mention of protocols that were given to officers that would govern how these devices were used or how information gathered by them would be protected from surreptitious review.

But such guidelines and restrictions already exist for the use of recordings made by the police from public CCTV systems and dashboard mounted cameras that already exist in their vehicles. Why have those technologies been praised by officers while they still resist putting cameras in precincts and the use of wearable recording devices?

In our present-day surveillance society, it's interesting that perhaps the very last bastion of privacy in America might very well reserved for the very same police officers that have been given the power and privileged of monitoring and recording the rest of us...

In the end it seems as though everyone will be left wondering if this technology will finally help us watch the watchers, or if the watchers will be only gaining yet another tool with which to watch us.

Poll Results

Well, as you may have noticed, I ran a little poll to see what readers would like to see more of from me. The results are final and here's what you had to say:

First, the most votes expressed a desire that the site would be killed off and that I would be arrested for creating it. All I can say about that is it's not a goal I plan on working towards, sorry.

In second place were the votes to keep things as they are with a mix of political information, legal information, stories of misconduct, and other stuff. We'll try, but what gets posted is often at the whims of what's going on outside of our control and one of the issues lately is that the latest contract between the city and police guild may actually make it harder for news of misconduct to get out in the open instead of making that information more open to the public.

In third place was a request for more legal information and support information for victims of police misconduct... Well, I know from experience that there is definitely a lack of support resources and sources of information for victims of misconduct and abuse in Seattle. But, that's what makes it so difficult for us to provide useful and vetted information to other victims of misconduct.

See, as said numerous times, this site has no support within the city of Seattle. The "civil rights" lawyers don't like to talk with us or answer questions because they don't think there is anything in it for them to do so. Civil rights groups like the ACLU in Seattle are too busy fighting to legalize drugs and organizing politicized Gitmo torture protests while ignoring torture in their own city to pay any serious attention to local civil rights abuses, and while the NAACP has been trying to bring more attention to the issue they don't seem very interested in supporting all victims of misconduct.

So... where will we get that kind of legal and support information victims need in order to make the right choices towards seeking justice once they've been abused and get the services the need to recover? Ah, there's the problem, just as there was no place for me to turn when I was hurt, we still have no place to turn to find people willing to help others who were hurt. Being a victim of official misconduct and abuse is still a wrong within a wrong, you get hurt first by the police and then the public when your avenues to justice and support are cut off just because you've been hurt by the police.

Of course, this is why this site is here. While trying to find out what I could do about what happened to me I heard from lawyers who said they turned away hundreds of victims because their cases weren't profitable due to the way the city makes it difficult to find evidence of misconduct and how the city fights such cases legislatively and judicially. In fact, some of the lawyers who used to take such cases don't anymore because it's so unprofitable for them. Organizations like the ACLU and NAACP just don't take misconduct cases unless it's very high profile and will get them some exposure in the press, they don't even give out referrals anymore since there are so few lawyers who take such cases.

So, since Seattle won't help all these victims of misconduct and won't help us help them, we're reaching out to other cities and states in an effort to find that information our fellow victims desperately need. Once we get enough information we'll publish it and make it accessible to the people who need it, not just on the site either.

We've heard you, we know there's a desperate need out there for more information and support, and we're doing what we can to meet that need. So, stay tuned.

Police Cameras 2: Recording The Cops

Gosline, a white man in his mid-20s, says he used his cell phone to take photographs as officers beat Alley-Barnes with fists and nightsticks along the knees, torso, and face and bashed his head repeatedly into the asphalt. Then, Gosline says, another cop appeared, pepper-sprayed him in the face and hauled him and three friends up to the East Precinct on 12th Avenue. There, Gosline says, the officers confiscated his phone, which they returned when he was released early Wednesday morning. When he opened it again, he says, the photographs were gone. -"Face Off" The Stranger Weekly 04/21/05

As we've noted before, the city enjoys recording it's citizens on a regular basis and has been investing millions of dollars on even more surveillance technologies, but it's always had a very big problem allowing it's citizens to keep an eye on them, especially it's own problematic police department.

In addition to refusing to put cameras in the areas of police precincts where detainees are transported or held in order to ensure their rights are not violated, the city allows officers to control when their dashcams are recording. Additionally the city also has a record of refusing FOIA requests regarding police disciplinary activities and it constantly fails to discipline officers for violating the rights of innocent bystanders and detainees alike... All in all, Seattle is likely one of the most restrictive cities for it's size in the US in regards to civil rights.

Well, some of you may have read the story in the newspaper or at least noticed the news item in our "Seattle Misconduct News" links on the sidebar, but the city has supposedly clarified the policy for how bystanders are to be treated when they witness or take photographs of police activity.

Of course, the refined policy is the result of the lawsuit against the city that was settled last year in response to a bystander being arrested when he would not relinquish his camera to officers when they demanded it after he legally took photographs of an arrest in progress.

Of course, while we would like to see this actual policy in order to determine what loopholes were left in it for officers, especially since the ACLU of Washington State was a party to the refinement and they don't have a very good history of helping government entities write policies that protect the rights of detainees; after all, they didn't do a good job protecting detainee rights at the King County Jail when they helped the county rewrite their policies... but so far the exact wording of this new policy has been kept secret.

Indeed, given the number of allegations of some very blatant abuses of authority used by Seattle police officers to destroy evidence of misconduct and detain witnesses of abusive behavior, it's clear that any such policy needs to be iron-clad. However, given the city's willingness to weaken oversight and accountability reforms under pressure from the police union and dismantling of the civilian oversight system that monitored SPD internal investigations, it seems as though this is merely yet another PR effort.

In fact, one only needs to read a few of the comments under the article about this new policy to see allegations of how Seattle Police officers illegally intimidate witnesses of brutality, something probably not covered in their new policy:

From "Vinella" in response to the Seattle PI article:

I once watched a confrontation between police officers and an unarmed black man waiting on a bus on Stewart Street behind the old Frederick & Nelson Building. I was across the street in my pizza restaurant, making lunch, when the guy, who had been standing there for at least ten minutes, reading a book, suddenly threw his hands up in the air and went bug-eyed. Ten cops descended on him, guns drawn, shouting things even I could hear through my windows. They shouted for him to get face down and the guy kept on asking why. Finally, he got down on his stomach and the officers felt obliged to administer a few swift kicks in the ribs and one club shot to his head while he was lying prone. I watched the whole thing, until they had him subdued and in custody. I grabbed one of my business cards and walked across the street. I gave the guy the card and offered, in full view and earshot of the officers, to testify on his behalf when he went to court. Then I left.

Within 15 seconds, three cops were in my shop, all badgering me about helping the guy. "You don't know what you saw!", one kept shouting. "You don't even know why we were arresting him!", said the other. Finally, I told all three to shut up and reminded them they were in MY shop without MY permission. "What I KNOW is that I watched a guy read a book for ten minutes, minding his own business, and then you guys come in and force him to the pavement, kick him and club him, when he is IN NO WAY resisting arrest. If the guy was so freakin' guilty of something, WHY would he spend ten minutes reading a book on a busy city street, and not be running somewhere to hide?" They continued to argue until I finally grabbed my phone and dialed the Chief's office to report them. THAT'S what I see from the Seattle P.D., not the calm, clear-eyed, unruffled professionalism so many claim to practice...

Given reported events of witness intimidation and wrongful confiscation of photographic evidence like these and a lack of accountability for the officers who violate the rights of bystanders and detainees, it's doubtful that this highly publicized "new policy" is anything other than yet more smoke and mirrors to cover for all the bad press the city has been getting for it's failure to control it's own police force and protect the rights of it's citizenry.

Media Mistaken About King County Jail Problems

The Seattle Post Intelligencer recently printed an article about 65 cited cases of MRSA at the King County Jail within the last 5 months. While it's good that these sort of stories are being reported, there are some unfortunate inaccuracies in that report and it really doesn't do enough to describe how this should matter to the average citizen.

First, the article mistakenly suggests that the DOJ report only found fault with infection related issues:

"In a report released in November, investigators with the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division suggested jail officials were failing to take basic measures to prevent the spread of such diseases, something they said could be accomplished by focusing on the personal hygiene of inmates, keeping the facility clean and laundering inmate clothing adequately."

That DOJ report also cited failures to provide medical care to detainees that resulted in at least one preventable death that occurred during the investigation. It also cited the jail for failure to protect detainees from sexual abuse by guards, failure to provide sanitary conditions, failure to prevent physical abuse by guards, and failure to adequately protect detainees from self-harm. Indeed, the civil rights violations at the jail are numerous and have been proven to be deadly, to understate them is a disservice to the community.

Next the article states that the jail has fixed those problems:

"Jail officials said they have taken several measures in recent months to improve conditions.

All inmates are now screened by nurses at booking. A new computer system allows arresting officers to determine if someone in their custody has previously been treated for tuberculosis, and a new Electronic Health Records system went online last summer, which is expected to help Jail Health nurses better track treatment of sick inmates."

...which is patently false. All inmates are not examined on booking and their treatment needs are not being tracked, as this woman's account of her recent experience in that jail proves. The problem is that they may have implemented these systems, but it appears as though there is no way to force the guards and medical workers to FOLLOW any policies to ensure they are used. Indeed, other allegations of lapses in medical care seem to indicate that denial of medical care isn't necessarily due to mistakes, but intentional withholding as a form of punishment.

Next, the report claims this:

"For years, upon booking, inmates have been given two sheets, a blanket, a towel, a pair of sandals, a single uniform, and one set of undergarments -- socks, underwear and, for women, a sports bra."

Which again isn't necessarily true, inmates have been known to go weeks without any footwear when there have been shortages in the past, this can be very problematic in the jail where the bathrooms and floors are not properly disinfected and flooding does occur from faulty bathroom drainage systems.

They also claim the following about hygienic concerns:

"As a rule, inmates can buy more underwear if someone on the outside deposits funds into an inmate account. Jail officials could not say how frequently inmates make such purchases.

"Our policy is if an inmate comes to the officer and indicates that he has some kind of soiled linen, bedding, or blanket, we exchange it at that time," Hayes said. "We don't play games."

Justice Department investigators heard something different during their review.

"Inmates informed us that the only way to obtain clean underwear is to purchase it from the commissary, or wash it themselves in the cell area using their hand/shower soap," investigators wrote in their report."

This is a bit misleading because a detainee in the jail cannot purchase items from the commissary until they are placed in the general population, until that time they are detained in "holding cells" which are large rooms that house up to 25 or more detainees (some on the floor when overcrowding occurs) in a single room. Some detainees will spend over a week in these holding cells before put in a regular cell block.

Now, detainees in general population are only allowed to order commissary once a week, and if you miss that day you must wait another week. So, many detainees transferred from holding to a regular cell can have to wait up to TWO weeks for new underwear and the soap to clean them. Plus, since they are only given a small hotel bar of soap that has to last until they make it to GP and they are not allowed to hang clothes to dry them, this means that they really don't have the opportunity to wash their underwear and clothes. Even once they make it into GP, they still can't hang underwear anywhere to dry them if they do wash them with that small bar of soap.

To say that the jail has a problem letting inmates stay clean is an understatement. Some inmates with open wounds have been left without treatment or bandages for days, and then left to use the same soiled and bloody clothes and blankets for two weeks since they are not offered a change of clothes or bedsheets until they get into a regular cell and this also happens once a week.

Now, the other problem is that people don't understand, which is made clear when you read the comments section of this paper's story, how this problem might affect them. Well, first, these detainees do get released into the population eventually and if left untreated with MRSA or TB they will spread those infections to the general public.

But, also, these are mostly pre-trial detainees at this jail. Some of whom do end up being found innocent yet were still forced to suffer that hell hole without compensation for being punished by the conditions in there despite not deserving to be punished there.

For those that think it's rare for people to mistakenly get put in that jail... think again.
Read Here and Here for recent cases of innocent people detained there, it happens quite a damn bit.

And as for the King County Councilperson's response to the article:

"King County Councilman Bob Ferguson, who is participating in settlement discussions with Justice, said the county is committed to making those improvements.

"You don't lose all your civil rights when you walk in the jail," he said."

That's not what the county executive Sims and DAJD head Holgeerts, who is in charge of the jail, seem to think. Since the council agreed with the county executive's statements insisting such conditions were not a violation of anyone's civil rights, we question the council's commitment to fixing these problems... and it's a valid question considering that these problems still appear to exist.

Washington State's Anti-Gang Crime Bill May Be Unconstitutional

Washington state's legislature is passing an "anti-gang bill" that includes provisions to fund police anti-gang taskforces, increased penalties for gang-related crimes, and supposedly deter recruitment by punishing adults who recruit teens into gangs.

However, the most troubling part of the anti-gang crime bill is how it defines a gang and the implementation of a state-wide gang watchlist database that will include the names of anyone a police officer accuses of belonging to a gang.

First, the bill defines a gang as an association of three or more individuals who share a symbol or name either formally or informally and who's members participate in a crime. Now, let's strip away the extraneous terms and, simply put, anyone who has an informal relationship to anyone who commits a crime and that informal relationship includes three or more people would be considered as a gang member. So, let's say a member of your bowling team commits a crime, that would mean that you could technically be labeled as a gang member.

Now, all of that aside, what burden of proof is involved in being labeled as a gang member? None.

Is there a way to make sure the names put in that database are really gang members? No. There is no oversight. There is no due-process. There is no judicial overview.

If a police officers decides to put your name in that database, it's there, you're profiled, and there is no mechanism available for you to appeal that designation and no way for you to clear your name in a court of law. This is the unconstitutional portion of the bill, allowing the executive to take punitive action on citizens without due process.

So, if your name gets placed on that database because, oh, let's say some officer decides he doesn't like your opinions about police accountability... then there is nothing you can do about it, no way for you to appeal, no judicial avenue available for you to plead not guilty... Nothing.

Guess what happens when you apply for a job and go through a background check. Well, you've been denied employment because your name was on an unconstitutional list of gang members and there is nothing you can do. (not to mention the absurdity of suggesting that denying alleged gang member employment will help induce gang members to go straight!)

This bill is, on the very face of it, illegal and unconstitutional. Without mechanisms of appeal and judicial oversight, it is a stark violation of civil rights that grants the executive branch unchecked power to harass citizens at will and without any burden of proof or consequence for abuse... and I guarantee that it will be abused.

...and I don't foresee anyone who will be willing to challenge it.

A Busy Seattle Police Misconduct News Day

Today was a fairly busy news day in regards to police misconduct in Seattle.

First there was the Mark Hays trial results, as mentioned below.

Then there was the $20,000 police brutality settlement (was that only what the city paid or the total settlement?) in the Claxton case, as mentioned on the sidebar.

Finally, it seems that the ACLU of Washington has taken it upon themselves to push an initiative to repeal anti-marijuana laws while still remaining silent about the deadly civil rights abuses that have occured in the King County Jail. Hey, I'll admit that I'm staunchly anti-marijuana and anti-drug use so I might be a bit biased concerning the ACLU's priorities, but people are dying in that jail because their civil rights are being violated, this seems more problematic to me than some pot-heads having the right to smoke themselves stupid... especially in Seattle where the government legislated that the police must make pot-related offenses the lowest enforcement priority possible.

What's more, it seems we missed that, on Febuary 8th, the ACLU of Washington issued a letter to encourage the city of Seattle to implement the police accountability reforms that were recommended by the mayor's OPARP panel. Oddly enough, the ACLU addressed this letter to the city council, of all people! The council has been supportive of the reforms, pending their own SCCPAP panel's review, while the Seattle Police Officer's Guild has been insistent in it's reluctance towards oversight improvements... This seems to show how out of touch the ACLU is about the real and severe civil rights issues that exist in Seattle by ignoring the well-publicized problems at the jail and showing their ignorance of the well documented problems with the guild's resistance to oversight reforms at the same time.
With "friends" like this, who needs abusive cops?

Responses to KCCF Prisoner Abuses: Update

As frequent readers may know, I've been a bit critical of the apparent hypocricy of human rights groups who have protested in Seattle against suspected human rights abuses in Guantanamo while known abuses occur down the street from their protest site in the King County Jail.

Frequent readers may also know that I wanted to be fair about it so I sent messages to all those groups asking what their official position was in regards to prisoner abuse in the KCCF and if there were any planned demonstrations to defend the human rights of those prisoners as well.

Here are the responses I received from those organizations:

• ACLU of Washington - Replied that they only talk to established media outlets, not bloggers like me.
• NAACP of Seattle - No reply
• The Alliance for Justice - No Reply
• Human Rights First - No Reply
• Human Rights Watch - No Reply
• Amnesty International USA - No Reply
• The City of Seattle Government's Human Rights Committee - No Reply

Given the response I received at the "Close Guantanamo Protest" yesterday and the responses at various message boards and forums, it's pretty clear that if I were a suspected terrorist then I would deserve protection from cruel and unusual punishment, but since I was a suspected criminal who was later found innocent, I deserved to be tortured.

In other words, the human rights organizations like AI and the ACLU agree with what Mr. Sims and Mr. Holgeerts say; prisoners have no rights in the King County Jail.

So, we non-terrorist victims of torture are on our own, as one representative from Amnesty International said to me on another forum, "Go have your own protest." Which is an intersting thing to say to a victim of torture who has every reason to believe he would be abducted and tortured again for demonstrating against the government that tortured him by himself in public. "Go protest and get tortured again, we're not going to help."

It's just more injustice in Seattle, as usual... their silence confirms they believe as the banner up top reads, it's not human rights for all of us, just some of us.

Red vs Orange

A lot of things are bugging me today.

One of these things is the "Close Guantanamo Day" protests being sponsored by the ACLU and Amnesty International on Friday, Jan 11. The ACLU of Washington state, who are also supposedly responsible for monitoring conditions at the King County Jail that was slammed by the DOJ for deadly rights abuses a few months ago, is sponsoring the event and urging people to "wear orange on Friday" in order to remind people about the abuses at Guantanamo.

That's nice and all, people should be mindful of those abuses of the 300+ prisoners held there, but it seems that there are a multitude of rights organizations that are keeping us mindful of those abuses and, perhaps, the ACLU should be devoting it's attention to the abuses going on just down the street from where they are holding their protest for people thousands of mile away.

Point A is the ACLU protest, Point B is the King County Jail.

...Perhaps, instead of orange, they should ask people to wear red; the same color multitudes of abused and murdered prisoners that have been held at the King County Jail in Seattle were forced to wear for weeks on end without being allowed to wash or a change their clothes instead.

Now, before anyone says, "but Dave, don't be mad at the ACLU for not taking your case." It's not that, it's that I know I'm not the only one who suffered there, the DOJ knows this too, but the ACLU doesn't seem to care that this equates to a class action suit with hundreds, if not thousands, of potential victims. It's not just about my case, others have suffered and have even died there in ways most horrific.

Also, before you suggest that the ACLU needs do nothing since the US DOJ did their job for them, I remind readers that the King County and KCCF leaders have declared that abusing and torturing prisoners is not a rights issue, so it appears that any changes will not be permanent, if they occur at all. In other words, there is ample evidence that the abuses will continue despite the DOJ findings, especially with the lack of attention from organizations like the ACLU.

And if you think that the DOJ report by itself will change things while everyone else remains silent... Think again. This from the Seattle Weekly that initially wrote about the abuses which spurred the investigation:

"As a practical matter these DOJ suits against prisons and jails are not even a paper tiger. They are pretty meaningless." I agreed but said at least there's an embarrassment factor, which might prompt other officials to act. "Yes," he responded, "but the embarassment quickly passes and nothing changes."

If the torture and deaths of prisoners in King County Jail don't bother them enough to spur a protest, then Gitmo shouldn't bother them either. Protesting one while ignoring the other is pure hypocrisy, nothing more.

UPDATE: I plan to go down to the protest site in order to counter-protest by wearing red and distributing flyers asking people to consider why the ACLU and other group are willing to protest against the abuse of prisoners thousands of miles away while remaining silent about the abuse of prisoners a few blocks away in Seattle.

Since I've already been threatened with arrest and abuse by King County officials and some SPD officers, I'll likely be arrested and abused again, just for speaking for those victims who have nobody else who will speak for them...

So, if you don't see any new posts, it's because I was arrested and abused or worse while the ACLU looked on and did nothing. I won't do anything that would provoke an arrest, just ditribute flyers, but I don't think my doing nothing wrong would stop them from making something up as an excuse to harm me again.

Wish me luck, if you care.

Indeed, protester, your silence about prisoner abuse in Seattle is yellow.

UPDATE: I only had time to go a bit before the protest officially started. And I'm a bit ashamed to admit that my nerves wouldn't let me hand out more fliers after I was yelled at and harassed by the people who were supposedly protesting torture.

I handed one to a protester, who read it before she snarled at me "Just what can we do for THEM?!?"

I was taken aback, and already shaking as the last thing I wanted was a scene that might attract the police who would recognize who I was pretty quick, so as my jaw dropped I replied "Probably more than what you are doing for prisoners thousands of miles away from here".

After some more abuse I just left, all while shaking horribly and shocked. Apparently it's a lot more difficult than I thought, trying to reason with people who are protesting against torture when you're a victim of torture yourself.

...seems they like to think they are helping victims of torture, but hate them when face to face with one. But I'm still ashamed of myself, I'm still so full of dread from what happened to me in that jail that I couldn't even stand up to those protesters. When will the torture and dread stop?

...for them, and for me?

While there are still people like this, who play politics while pretending to wave the banner of human rights?

Responses to Human Rights Abuses at KCCF

In a previous post I cited an apparent lack of adequate response from the ACLU of Washington to the recent findings by the US DOJ of eggregious human rights abuses at the King County Jail in Seattle, Washington and the subsequent statement from King County Executive Ron Sims that stated such abuses were not a violation of any detainee's constitutionally protected right of protection from cruel and unusual punishment.

As promised, I've sent out requests for official responses from a number of well known human rights and civil rights groups pertaining to these events to see if any of these human rights groups cared about human rights abuses that were occuring inside of the United States. While I strongly suspect I will get no response whatsoever since I've not seen any official statements on any of their websites or newsletters, I want to give them a chance to state an opinion anyway.

I've sent the request to the following groups:

• ACLU of Washington
• NAACP of Seattle
• The Alliance for Justice
• Human Rights First
• Human Rights Watch
• Amnesty International USA
• The City of Seattle Government's Human Rights Committee

Basically the email states that I am working on an article concerning various reactions to the DOJ report citing deadly constitutional rights violations on the part of the King County Correctional Facility in Seattle and the subsequent denail by King County Government officials that the torture of detainees in it's custody amounts to a violation of constitutionally protected human rights as cited by the DOJ. I've asked each for their official responses to this story, if one exists, along with any planned actions.

No replies have been received so far, but if there are any I'll post them here. If there are any other groups you would like me to send a request to, just let me know and I'll do it.

Hopefully at least one of them will show that they care about human rights even when it doesn't suit a specific political agenda... but I'm not holding my breath.

Stay Tuned...

ACLU Ignored Detainee Abuses at KCCF

When the news broke that the US Department of Justice found evidence of deadly civil rights abuses occuring at the King County Correctional Facility in Seattle, Washington I was struck by one specific blurb in one of the articles in the Seattle Post Intelligencer, here.

The particular part in the article that caught my attention was this:

"The threat of a contagious, antibiotic-resistant bacterial infection known as MRSA has been a particular focus of the American Civil Liberties Union of Washington, which monitors jail conditions for compliance with a settlement agreement resulting from a 1989 lawsuit, state ACLU spokesman Doug Honig said Wednesday.

"This report from the Justice Department reinforces what we've been saying about the concerns about hygiene at the jail and the need for officials to address those concerns," Honig said."

Well, what struck me wasn't that the paper talked with the ACLU about a prisoner abuse case, it was that I was suprised that the ACLU was actually concerned and doing something about the prisoner abuse... because I have not seen any evidence that they were doing anything at all.

So, I decided to do a bit of research, after all, if the ACLU was concerned and had spoken up about their concerns, I would be able to find out what they said and when.

Several searches later, nothing. No news stories, no papers on their website, no mention, no lawsuits... Not One Thing.

That's right, the ACLU actually has done nothing at all about the prisoner abuse that they had supposedly been allowed to monitor at the King County Jail. In fact, there were no news articles with the Washington state ACLU speaking out about the torture that hundreds of detainees had experienced in that facility. There was also NO MENTION whatsoever of the ACLU speaking out on their own website here. Sure, plenty about Gitmo torture, but not one single solitary mention of the long torturous deaths by infection nor the sexual abuse, or any of the abuses that go on at the King County Jail.

So, it seems that the ACLU lied, they have not been talking about the abuses that occured at the King County Jail, not even since the DOJ's report has the ACLU said one solitary word except for the blurb in this one news article.

I had wondered why I never received a response from the ACLU when I told them how I had been tortured in that jail. It was that the ACLU doesn't really care about the torture of American citizens in American jails, especially when it is done by a supposedly liberal local government, it's not politically expedient for them I suppose... but Gitmo abuses are politically advantageous for their agenda, so that gets plenty of their attention and a vast number of pages on their website as well.

It's a sad day when the US DOJ cares more about the constitutional rights abuses of prisoners in a Seattle jail than the ACLU does. It makes me wonder who is left to defend our rights, because the ACLU isn't.

More than this, the ACLU's silence about the torture of detainees in King County makes them a complicit partner in that torture, especially if it is true that they were charged with monitoring conditions at that jail

UPDATE: To be fair I've sent out requests for official responses to the DOJ report of deadly civil rights abuses at the King County Jail to all civil and human rights organizations. I'll report on what I find out as these reactions, or the utter lack thereof, come in.