Paul Davis, from ACT UP Philadelphia, reports his eyewitness accounts of brutality inside the Philadelphia jail. I saw a man handcuffed to his cell door in a crucifixion position. He groaned and bellowed for 20 minutes that they were using metal handcuffs to smash his hands. I heard women screaming and being dragged along the floor. Arrestees have now been held for over 60 hours without arraignment, some without phone calls or contact with their lawyers.
Detainees report missing paperwork, and arraignments with incomplete or slipshod records.
Philadelphia continues to restrict R2K Legal Committee lawyers, allowing only a total of three lawyers access to all six detention sites, and hundreds of defendants. Prosecutors have set unprecedented high bail for non-violent civil disobedience. This is an attack on our 14th Amendment. An attack on due process and reasonable bail. This is a systematic political effort to undermine and destroy the momentum of a growing movement for social and environmental justice.