
© Steve FernieDepartment of Justice
It wasn't just Chicago Police operating the off-the-books holding facility, the site of alleged torture and days-long unlawful detention.
Scandals don't get much more disturbing than that of Homan Square. In 2015, the
Guardian revealed Chicago Police had allegedly employed torture and days-long unlawful detention at the secretive "black site"-like Homan Square facility, a nondescript warehouse located in Chicago's west-side Garfield Park neighborhood. Outraged and alarmed by these revelations, politicians and activists clamored for the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate human rights abuses at the facility,
which still operates today.Despite the pleading, the DOJ elected
not to investigate Homan Square, and instead conducted a broad
investigation of Chicago Police Department use of force practices.The DOJ's failure to specifically examine the alleged abuses at Homan left onlookers scratching their heads. Investigating the CPD's use of force was important, of course,
but why wouldn't the DOJ also investigate the Homan Square facility given the severity of the allegations?One of the main figures pushing for a DOJ probe of Homan Square was then-Cook County Commissioner Richard Boykin, who sent letters to the Department asking them to investigate the facility. Asked whether he ever received an explanation as to why the DOJ didn't investigate the facility, Boykin said: "I did not, which is surprising right?"
Comment: In response to the increase in attacks Elon Musk states security has been increased.