JUSTICE AUDIT OF POST 9/11 DETAINEES

It's good that this study has happened, and the stories are a national shame no matter how you cut it. Read the WaPo article here. Here's a quote:

The report said immigration authorities did not tell the detainees of the charges against them within normal specified time frames, affecting their ability to understand why they were being held, and limited their ability to obtain lawyers.

In addition the Justice Department implemented a policy of holding the detainees until they were cleared by the FBI.

. . .

Instead of taking just a few days as first expected, the clearance process ended up taking an average of 80 days.

The slow process also affected the detainees' confinement, particularly at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn. Until they were cleared, the 84 foreigners at that facility were held under highly restrictive conditions.

For example they were locked in their cells for at least 23 hours a day, moved in handcuffs and leg irons and allowed only one legal telephone call per week and one social call per month. In Brooklyn, prison officials kept two lights on in the detainees' cells 24 hours a day and subjected them to verbal and physical abuse.

This isn't some unsubstantiated charge. It's the result of Justice's own internal investigaion. And the responses from Justice Department spokeswoman Barbara Comstock are insufficient, at least as they are reported by WaPo:

"We make no apologies for finding every legal way possible to protect the American public from further terrorist attacks."

Everything can be justified with the claim that it is intended to "protect the American public." But those who take on that responsibility also have a responsibility to engage in actions that make sense, are humane, respect due process, and represent an intelligent allocation of law enforcement resources. There is no excuse for physically abusing people for no other reason than the fact that they happen to be placed in a particular bureaucratic category ("potential terrorists"), especially given the questionable origins of that category.

MORE: The OIG report is available at this page (PDF file is here, press release is here). The text of DOJ's response is here.