One class of citizens gets swept up and crammed into "holding cells" -- denied the basic America Right of knowing why they're being held. (the other class, is doing the "sweeping" ...)
They are denied the basic human dignity, of having even enough space on a spartan concrete floor, to lay their weary bones.
Forcing up to 15 souls into a 10x10 holding pen, will do that a person. It will Deny them their basic Human Rights.
Lawyers Charge Baltimore Jails Lack Food, Water, Medical Care
by Polly Mosendz, newsweek.com -- 5/1/15
[...]
Since the arrest and death of Freddie Gray and the peaceful protests and violence that followed in Baltimore -- with stores looted, multiple buildings burned and 98 police officers injured, mostly by thrown rocks and bricks -- authorities have arrested 201 people, 106 of whom have now been released because the 48-hour deadline to file criminal charges has passed, police spokesman Eric Kowalczyk told reporters.
Even though they weren’t charged with crimes, many of those 106 who had to endure 48 hours in Baltimore jails had an unpleasant, and very confusing, experience. In some cases, the jails were overloaded, resulting in the charging paperwork not being processed correctly or at all.
[...]
It is not the issue that there isn’t enough staff,” Lee told Newsweek. “They’re denying due process to people. The public defenders office had to file writs of habeas corpus to have their basic rights met yesterday. This is not an issue of staffing, this is an issue of the City of Baltimore having to respect their citizens.”
Although 106 people have been released, law enforcement officials told reporters they are continuing to review video footage to match faces to names of those involved in illegal activity, mainly looting. Baltimore police say those they can identify some who will be charged, though many of the crimes will be classified as misdemeanors.
[...]
It will Deny them their basic Civic Rights, too.
American Citizens deserve better ... no matter what circumstances of their unsubstantiated
"arrests" -- supposedly are.
This is what the unlawful punishment of a "class of citizens" looks like -- when they all get painted by one broad brush ...
Hundreds languish behind bars without charges or a shower as Baltimore struggles with mass arrests
by Joan Shipps, rawstory.com --Apr 29, 2015
Maryland state law requires that people who have been arrested receive a court appearance within 24 hours. But although police arrested hundreds of protesters in Baltimore on Monday, 235 of them had not been formally charged by early Wednesday, leaving them in legal limbo and still behind bars.
Katie D’Adamo, a lawyer with the Office of the Public Defender in Baltimore, tells BuzzFeed that -- as of Wednesday morning -- adults arrested in this week’s demonstrations “are being held in tiny cells” in Baltimore’s Central Booking and Intake Facility and “have not been able to shower.” The 34 juveniles swept up by police, meanwhile, “are being held in a separate facility across the street.”
[...]
Rochelle Ritchie, director of communications for the state’s attorney’s office, tells BuzzFeed that a bare bones staff showed up on Tuesday and that “some” people were indeed formally charged in court. Ritchie doesn’t specify how many, however.
[...]
Overwhelmed by this morning’s case load, Maryland Public Defender Paul DeWolfe reached out to private attorneys for help in representing the hundreds of people arrested in Monday night’s rioting in Baltimore.
[...]
This is what "
Justice in America" has devolved to ...
pleads for volunteer defenders, to lessen the "judicial" strain.
Whatever happened to opening the doors and letting the "unjustly charged" prisoners go ???
American citizens deserve MORE than to be demoted to 'fish in barrel', while the authorities find time to "review the tape" ...
We deserve to "Be Innocent, UNTIL proven Guilty." ... not the other way around.
Leslie Salzillo reported yesterday, about the appalling way these Baltimore Citizens were swept up in an aggressive Police response -- how they have now become nameless, right-less detainees.
Like they were only so much "chattel" ... denied food, water, and even their proverbial one phone call.
[...]
As many of you know, more than 250 people have been arrested since Monday here in Baltimore. Normally when you are arrested, you are given a copy of your charging documents and then you must see a commissioner within 24 hours for a bail determination ("prompt presentment") and given a trial date. If you are not released after the commissioner hearing, you will be brought before a judge for a review of the bail set by the commissioner. None of this was happening, so we sent some lawyers to Central Booking yesterday to try to help. I heard, however, that only 2 commissioners showed up, and the correctional officers only brought about 9 people to be interviewed because the jail was on a mysterious "lock-down".
Today we were divided into two groups. Some of the lawyers were assigned the task of actually doing judicial bail reviews for as many folks as they could get interviewed and docketed. I was assigned to the other group. We were the "habeas team", and we were to interview folks that we felt were being illegally detained, so we could file writs of habeas corpus. Governor Hogan had issued an executive order, extending the time for prompt presentment to 47 hours. We believed that this order was invalid because the governor has no authority to alter the Maryland Rules. As a result, all people who were being detained for more than 24 hours without seeing a commissioner were being held illegally.
Knowing all of this, I was still not prepared for what I saw when I arrived. The small concrete booking cells were filled with hundreds of people, most with more than ten people per cell. Three of us were sent to the women's side where there were up to 15 women per holding cell. [...]
Those were the words of
Public Defender Marci Tarrant Johnson
who was appalled by the "deplorable conditions" that Baltimore Citizens
are now being warehoused in:
[...]
Not only had these women been held for two days and two nights without any sort of formal booking, BUT ALMOST NONE OF THEM HAD ACTUALLY BEEN CHARGED WITH ANYTHING. They were [...] taken to holding cells without ever being charged with an actual crime. No offense reports. No statements of probable cause.
Interviewing these women was emotionally exhausting. [...] Almost all of them had no record. [...]
I'll wrap this up by reminding everyone that all lives matter. We are all human beings. And we are Americans, and as such we are afforded protections under the law, the guilty and innocent alike. If one person is denied due process, we all suffer. If one persons rights and freedoms are trampled on, it's not only a reflection on all of us, but it puts our own liberty at risk. The moment we view some individuals as more important than others, we cheapen ourselves. At the very essence of our democracy is the right to question and stand up to authority. During these trying times, we should all keep that in mind.
When this {unlawful detainment} happens to the citizens of other nations -- we call them {the detained}
"The Disappeared."
When this happens to the citizens of an oppressed American city -- we barely notice.
That is what the Denial of Due Process looks like ... and the less we see it happening, the less we care -- the more we lose our unique individual freedoms, and the more will lose our national soul.
Those who see this slippery slope occurring, need to speak out and call it what it is: appalling, tragic, and a disturbing blight on our supposed "equal under the Law," system of justice.
This silent, insidious, erosion of our foundational American Rights -- must stop Now.
Let the Baltimore Detainees go!