July
17, 2003
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact
Information: John Sargis 973-956-7228, Jeannette Gabriel
646-247-3238
Civil
Rights Group calls for OIG Investigation into Abuses of Detainees
Detainee Hunger Strike Enters Fourth Week
The
New Jersey Civil Rights Defense Committee (NJCRDC) will be holding a press
conference on Friday, July 18th, at 12 noon, at the corner of Grand and
Hamilton Streets in Paterson, NJ, near the County Administration Building
and the Office of the Sheriff of Passaic County. The purpose is to support
the hunger strikes of Nigel Maccado and Hemnauth Mohabir, two detainees
in the Passaic County jail, and to demand investigation into the human
and civil rights abuses at the jail that have prompted the strikes and
a swift end to County contracts with the Department of Homeland Security
which profit from these abuses.
A recent official report by the US Department of Justice Office of Inspector General (OIG) detailed abuses against detainees in the period after September 11, 2001, specifically citing inadequate food,
beatings, the use of attack dogs, and solitary confinement as improper and abusive treatment. The NJCRDC has received written testimony of similar inhumane conditions at the Passaic County jail. The NJCRDC is urging the OIG to investigate allegations of such abuses and to acknowledge that far from being part of a limited post 9/11 overreaction, they are present and ongoing.
Mr Mohabir has been refusing regular food for over two weeks and Mr Maccado for over three weeks. During this time Passaic County Jail has denied NJCRDC visitation rights and threatened the strikers with solitary confinement if they did not terminate their strike.
NJCRDC is currently working for the release of these men, who are being held without criminal charges or legal counsel in violation of their 6th amendment rights to due process under the Constitution. This guarantee extends to all persons in the U.S. There are hundreds if not thousands of such detainees being similarly held in violation of their due process rights under contracts with County governments at a per diem price per prisoner.
The NJCRDC is also working for the release of all other detainees, and in particular with the Committee for Farouk Abdel-Muhti to publicize and demand investigation of his solitary confinement at York County Jail in Pennsylvania for over four months. Mr. Abdel-Muhti also held a hunger strike at Passaic County Jail this past January, after which the Department of Homeland Security moved him to York and placed him in solitary confinement.
The New Jersey Civil Rights Defense Committee will begin a regular series of pickets in front of Passaic County Jail to demonstrate our solidarity for the hunger strikers, to insist on an end to County contracts for such detentions, and to demand that all the detainees be released.
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