DENVER—An industrial warehouse larger than a football field will be used as a processing center for detainees during the Democratic National Convention, and it features chain-link fencing topped with barbed wire as holding cells.
Groups planning marches, concerts and other events during the Aug. 25-28 convention dub the center “Gitmo on the Platte,” for the nearby South Platte River.
The Denver sheriff’s office, which operates city and county jails, insists anyone taken to the center will be there only a few hours while they’re fingerprinted, issued a court date and released after posting bail. Others will be transferred to facilities designed for longer detentions.
“Of course if the numbers are overwhelming, that’s all going to be out the door,” said Capt. Frank Gale, a sheriff’s spokesman. “If we’re inundated with a bunch of civil unrest, it doesn’t matter how well we prepare. If we get severe numbers it’s going to take us forever” to process those in custody.
The north Denver location of the warehouse was confirmed by Denver’s KCNC-TV, which aired footage showing rows of razor wire topping chain-link cells. A sign read: “Electric stun devices used here.”
Gale confirmed the authenticity of the footage. He said each cell will be about 20-by-20 feet. He refused to release details about how many people could be processed there.
“It’s just ridiculous, the thing looks like a dog pound,” said Mark Cohen of the protest group Recreate-68 Alliance. “Even if you only put dogs in there, people will be complaining about it. I think you ought to have the Red Cross and Amnesty International come take a look at this thing.”
Mayor John Hickenlooper’s office issued a statement saying police will ask people to voluntarily comply with their orders before making any arrests. It said “the city does not anticipate the need for widespread arrests” but noted “the intention of some organizations to deliberately get arrested.”
The American Civil Liberties Union has been talking with the city about attorney about access to detainees. So, too, has the People’s Law Project, which will dispatch attorneys free of charge to represent arrested protesters.
The city said attorneys can meet clients in court, per standard practice, not at the facility.
ACLU-Colorado legal director Mark Silverstein said city officials told him detained protesters will be placed on buses and taken to the facility, about 2 miles northeast of downtown. Those who post bail will then be taken to the county jail, which is nearly 8 miles northeast of downtown .
Those who are unable or refuse to post bail will be taken back to a downtown city jail to await a court date.
Gale said officials hope to process as many as 100 people per hour at the warehouse facility. Silverstein worries that the logistics of moving people around could mean detentions lasting several hours. Brian Vicente, People’s Law Project executive director, said he estimates it could take up to 10 hours to process people if 300 to 400 people are arrested at once.
“The idea is to keep us as far away from downtown as possible,” said another Recreate-68 organizer, Glenn Spagnuolo.
Silverstein said warehouse cells won’t have running water, bathrooms or telephones. Gale said deputies will escort anyone needing those services.
Tent State University organizer Adam Jung said the facility underscores the erosion of civil liberties
“To them we’re no longer students, brothers and sisters. We’ve become monsters to them, where they find it acceptable to place us in a facility like that,” Jung said.
