Homan Square Detainee Alleges Sexual Torment at the Hands of Chicago Cops

A man claims Chicago cops locked him up in the controversial Homan Square detention site and coerced him into cooperating with a drug sting through physical and sexual abuse.

In an interview with the Guardian, 33-year-old Angel Perez describes how he was taken into custody in 2012, shackled, held in a blood-stained room that smelled of urine and subjected to cruel taunts and physical abuse, which culminated in a detective lewdly rubbing a metal object up and down his back while describing how Perez would be raped in prison by black men.

Perez alleges the cop then shoved the instrument, possibly a handgun, up his rectum and laughed hysterically.

“They get down to where they’re gonna insert it, this is where I feel that it’s something around my rear end, and he said some stupid comment and then he jammed it in there and I started jerking and going all crazy – I think I kicked him – and I just go into a full-blown panic attack,” Perez told Spencer Ackerman, reporting for the Guardian. ”The damage it caused, it pretty much swole my rear end like a baboon’s butt.”

A caution to viewers: This video includes direct descriptions and profanity.

Chicago’s Independent Police Review Authority investigated Perez’s claims in 2013 and determined them to be unfounded.

The Guardian, a British news agency, first described the Homan Square warehouse lockup as a ”the domestic equivalent of a CIA black site” in a report published in February.

Writes Ackerman:

Perez is now the 13th person the Guardian has interviewed since February who has described being taken by police to a warehouse on Chicago’s west side; kept without a record of his whereabouts available to the public; and shackled for hours or even days without access to a lawyer. Most of them have been poor and black or Hispanic. Some allege physical abuse; all allege that they were in an inherently coercive environment. Few were charged with a crime, and police took those who were to actual police stations for booking after detention at Homan. Police and local media have dismissed their stories ...

Perez, a delivery driver for a Chicago restaurant who describes himself as a “nerd,” filed his lawsuit in 2013 and recently refiled the suit. His attorneys obtained video footage of his arrest and presence inside Homan Square as part of their legal effort and shared the footage with the Guardian.

After the alleged abuse, which included threats against his family, Perez said he would have agreed to anything. Brought to tears, he agreed to make a $170 heroin buy from a man named Dwayne.

Is Homan Square a ‘Secret Black Site’? Depends Who’s Asked

The Guardian interviewed several people detained at Homan Square as well as Chicago attorneys for its February report:

Alleged police practices at Homan Square, according to those familiar with the facility who spoke out to the Guardian after its investigation into Chicago police abuse, include:

• • Keeping arrestees out of official booking databases.
  • Beating by police, resulting in head wounds.
  • Shackling for prolonged periods.
  • Denying attorneys access to the “secure” facility.
  • Holding people without legal counsel for between 12 and 24 hours, including people as young as 15.

At least one man was found unresponsive in a Homan Square “interview room” and later pronounced dead.

Chicago-area news media have been subdued, even blasé and dismissive, in reporting on the Guardian’s stories. The Columbia Journalism Review dedicated a piece to the Chicago news media’s lack of interest in the story.

Chicago Sun-Times crime writer Frank Main notes the location is far from being a secret. Chicago Police describe Homan Square as a base for special operations units, home to the Organized Crime Bureau, the SWAT unit and evidence recovery. WBEZ reporters note that the press is often invited to the Homan Square building, formerly a Sears warehouse, for press conferences about drug seizures.

A CBS television show, The Good Wife, in an episode that aired Sunday, introduced Homan Square as a major storyline.

Recently, the Chicago City Council approved a $5.5 million fund to compensate future victims of police torture in the city. Since 2004, torture claims against Chicago police officers have cost the city more than $500 million in payments to victims, attorneys and other costs, reports the Better Government Association.