Homan Square cops alleged to have used heroin to make suspect 'talk'

© Alex Freeman

Indeed, for some there is “no outlet” from Homan Square.

One of the more troubling aspects of the Homan Square interrogation facility is the death of John Hubbard who is said to have died of an accidental heroin overdose while in police custody after buying drugs from an undercover officer.

Prior to the other revelations about Homan Square, it would have just been assumed that the cops were incompetent and let the suspect shoot up the evidence. Then it would have been assumed that they were lazy when parts of the file missing. After the explosive revelations about the facility, the public has to wonder how a suspect was capable of shooting up while inside of a police facility. It is highly unlikely that a suspect on the verge of overdose would be out attempting to purchase narcotics. The only likely scenario is that he injected, or someone else injected him with, the narcotics inside the police facility.

In light of the situation, The Fifth Column began reaching out to other victims of Homan Square. One of those was Jose Gonzales. During our interview he relayed his story:

That's when they told the handcuffed and shackled Jose that they were going to inject him with heroin to make him talk.

The story was confirmed by documentation involving the misdemeanor and by witnesses to his abduction and return. What was said inside the interrogation room can only be confirmed by the cops. I have to admit that in light of Chicago Police Department's implausible explanations related to the heroin overdose that happened while in custody, I didn't even call the department for comment. Eventually journalists reach a point where they are tired of being openly lied to by government officials.

The Fifth Column is currently interviewing scores of people that were detained in Homan Square, and those stories will be released at a later time. It became a priority to make this story public immediately once a Fifth Column journalist in Chicago was able to confirm that officers at Homan Square do, in fact, have access to heroin via the Homan Square evidence locker that stores narcotics seized in the city.

So the reader has to think critically. In the case of John Hubbard, who died of a heroin overdose in the facility, is it likely that police allowed him to shoot up the only evidence of his crime? Or is it more likely that Hubbard was uncooperative and they injected him with heroin in an effort to make him more relaxed and receptive to interrogation?

Either way, Hubbard died in a facility that routinely denies people basic constitutional protections. The Chicago Police Department has a duty to its citizens to close the facility and to arrest all of the officers that violated the rights of suspects. The Federal Bureau of Investigation has a duty to conduct a probe of the facility in relation to the use of Heroin as a method of enhanced interrogation.

The denials by the Chicago Police Department reek of a government organization that is waiting for the scandal to blow over. The Fifth Column now has access to enough former detainees to run one story a week until sometime in late 2016. We will not allow this story to blow over. The legal process in the United States is designed to be transparent. Any attempt at subverting the rule of law and the basic rights of people in the city will be met with a constant barrage of media attention. This facility must be closed and those behind the abuses must go to prison.