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Detainees abused { June 2 2003 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A5165-2003Jun2.htmlhttp://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A5165-2003Jun2.html
Report: Some Post-9/11 Detainees Abused
By TED BRIDIS
The Associated Press
Monday, June 2, 2003; 8:12 PM
WASHINGTON - Some of the hundreds of foreigners held after the Sept. 11 attacks were abused by guards and kept under harsh conditions, spending 23 hours a day in cells and sleeping under bright lights, according to a report released Monday.
The Justice Department's Office of the Inspector General described "significant problems" in the Bush administration's actions toward the 762 foreigners held on immigration violations after the attacks. Among other things, it found the FBI took too long to determine whether the detainees were involved with terrorists.
Under U.S. law, the government has up to 90 days to deport or release detainees. But it can hold them much longer if they are involved in a terrorism or criminal investigation. Some of the Sept. 11 detainees were kept in custody up to eight months.
Only one, Zacarias Moussaoui, has been charged publicly with any crime related to terrorism. Government officials say 505 were deported. Others are awaiting deportation or have been charged with nonterrorism crimes.
Justice spokeswoman Barbara Comstock said the agency acted to ensure the nation's security.
"We make no apologies for finding every legal way possible to protect the American public from further terrorist attacks," she said. U.S. laws were "scrupulously followed and respected," she said.
A senior FBI official who spoke on condition of anonymity said one detainee was a roommate of one of the hijackers and knew a second hijacker; another admitted training in a terrorist camp in Afghanistan; another traveled to New York days before Sept. 11 with a pilot's license and flight materials; yet another worked in a store where investigators found 25 photographs of the World Trade Center.
Private lawyers bristled over details of living conditions imposed for what is commonly considered a civil crime: residing in the United States in violation of immigration laws.
"They shouldn't have been in maximum security, shouldn't have been in leg shackles," said Jeanne Butterfield, executive director for the Washington-based American Immigration Lawyers Association. "In normal circumstances, they wouldn't even be imprisoned."
Inspector General Glenn Fine identified a "pattern of physical and verbal abuse" by guards, especially at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, N.Y., where 84 detainees were held. Guards were accused of slamming prisoners against walls and walking on their leg shackles.
Three detainees reported that guards told them, "You will feel pain," and "Someone thinks you have something to do with the World Trade Center, so don't expect to be treated well."
Lawyers in the Justice Department's civil rights division refused to prosecute allegations by three detainees who have been deported already, the report said. A fourth has not been interviewed by the FBI nearly one year after complaining of abuse.
Separately, the Bureau of Prisons ended an abuse investigation when a guard agreed to resign, and it found another abuse allegation to be unsubstantiated based on medical tests and witness statements.
Fine, who is pursuing administrative investigations of the alleged abuse, said the Bureau of Prisons cited an "al-Qaida training manual" recovered during a police raid in Manchester, England, that urged terrorists to distract government officials by claiming mistreatment in prison.
William Schulz, executive director of Amnesty International USA, called the treatment abominable and said the abuse allegations should be investigated and action taken against anyone found responsible for mistreatment.
The report, portions of which were leaked to the media Friday, did not allege that Justice Department policies toward the detainees violated their civil rights or any federal laws. It also noted that nearly all the detainees had violated immigration laws, such as overstaying visas or entering the country illegally.
Still, it questioned the treatment of many.
Dozens of the detainees were kept in their cells 23 hours per day. Many were refused weekly calls to lawyers and allowed to call their embassies or family members only once a month.
Overall, the inspector general proposed 21 reforms, including better criteria for determining links to terrorism during any future mass arrests of illegal immigrants.
In a letter to Fine, Deputy Attorney General Larry D. Thompson wrote that it was unfair to criticize Justice employees, given the "tremendous intensity" and "hundreds of novel issues" during the period following the terror attacks against New York and Washington.
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On the Net: Detainees report: www.usdoj.gov/oig/special/0603/full.pdf
FBI: www.fbi.gov
© 2003 The Associated Press
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