>FROM http://www.phillyimc.org
>
>Friday August 04, @12:50PM
>
>This is inhuman
>By R2K Legal
>
>Demonstrators continue to demand medical treatment, access to lawyers,
>access to phones, and timely release as constitutional violations persist in
>Philadelphia jails.
>Outside, solidarity actions are happening, with rallies planned at Franklin
>Park at 12 noon and 7 p.m. Activists also plan to collect signatures for a
>petition demanding the release of jailed demonstrators.
>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. Philadephia
>continues to restrict R2K lawyers, allowing only a total of three access to
>all six detention sites.
>R2K Legal has documented 381 confirmed arrests, not including members of the
>Int'l Action Center and School of Americas Watch (15 more). Additionally,
>there are people we have not heard from (we estimate up to 30), but due to
>restrictions on protester's access to telephones, there is really no way to
>tell. Of these people, approximately 60 have accepted "Release on Own
>Recognizance" or "Signed On Bail". Solidarity remains strong, with
>protesters coming to consensus on and communicating their demands. While not
>everyone still imprisoned is participating, most are.
>Guards, police, and administrators continue to attack protestors in jail,
>seeking to demoralize and divide. There has been one sexual assault, by a
>female officer who pulled and twisted a prisoner's penis. One released
>activist reports men have been dragged face down through a 'trash trough'
>containing refuse, spittle, and urine. Arrestees have been verbally abused,
>punched, kicked, thrown against walls, bloodied, dragged naked across
>floors.
>Outside pressure on the Philadelphia Health Commission has been effective at
>improving medical conditions. Diabetics, epileptics, and asthmatics continue
>to be denied medication. Trauma and psychological stress are evident.
>Released prisoners consistently report beatings during arrest and beatings
>in jail, with highest charges pressed on those most damaged. Supporters are
>asked to phone Mayor John Street at 215.686.2181 and demand release of these
>political prisoners.
>Prosecuters have set unreasonably high bail for demonstrators: from $15,000
>to $30,000 for most. Two individuals have bail of $1,000,000, an amount
>typically reserved for serial killers, not puppet makers. "I consider this a
>civil rights catastrophe of the first order," R2K legal counsel Ron McGuire
>stated.
>Solidarity tactics include singing, chanting, story telling, puppet making,
>along with a 150-person-strong hunger strike. Some have been on hunger
>strike for as long as 56 hours. Three men have fasted without water for 28
>hours.
>R2K Legal is currently seeking legal redress, including a writ of habeus
>corpus and a possible temporary restraining order against particularly
>violent officers.
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