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More Details of Convention Detention Facility

By Jeralyn

Denver police officials have released more details on the warehouse detention facility that has been built to hold arrestees should there be mass protester arrests at the Democratic convention.

The arrest-processing center will operate from Aug. 24 to 31 and will be able to detain up to 400 people for short periods of time. The facility also will be able to process about 60 prisoners an hour.

It is expected that those arrested will only be held there for a few hours before being bused to their next stop: the courthouse.

There are a few wrinkles with this plan protesters should be forewarned about. [More...]

No detainees will be released into the neighborhood even if they are able to post bail at the temporary center. Instead, those who are able to post bail will be bused to the Denver County Jail at Smith Road and Havana Street, where prisoners are usually released.

In other words, even once cleared for release, freedom will be hours away, requiring a visit to the antiquated, overcrowded and extremely unpleasant Denver County Jail, located 10 miles away on the Interstate. How clever of them to make it as difficult as possible for the protesters to return.

Even on a regular day, it can take four to six hours to get processed and released from the Denver County Jail once cleared. It's a maximum security type facility that holds those arrested and awaiting trial for murder and violent crimes as well as those doing time on DUI's. It regularly houses 2,000 prisoners even though maximum capacity is 1,600.

Back to the temporary warehouse facility. There is no designated space for lawyers to meet privately with clients. Officals think it's sufficient that lawyers are able to confer with their arrested clients for the first time after arriving at the courthouse.

Mark Silverstein, the ACLU's legal director, wrote a letter Aug. 8 to Lovingier and Manager of Safety Al Lacabe warning that under state statutes the custodian of detainees may not restrict lawyers from meeting with them.

Silverstein is right.

Handouts will be distributed to prisoners, providing information on the booking process and listing numbers for the American Civil Liberties Union and the People's Law Project.

That's helpful, but insufficient.

Full post as published by TalkLeft on August 14, 2008 (boomark / email).