Many, many arrestees are still in jail and having a bad time of it. Many of them have been held in very poor conditions without food and water and been denied access to lawyers. They need your pressure from the outside to blanket the Police Dept., courts and Mayor's office with phone calls demanding their immediate release.
I have just spoken to a representative of the Midnight Special Law Collective, the group that is handling the arrests of protesters in DC. He could speak to me only briefly as they need to keep the phone lines clear for people calling in from jail. He said that jail solidarity is holding and that a team of lawyers has now gone in to see arrestees and is on its way to making a successful negotiation with the police department.
He said that they really needed people to put pressure on to get people out. I asked the Midnight Special person who people should call to put pressure on the City government etc. to release demonstrators. He recommended calling the DC Police at the Central Jail to make a complaint and the Mayor's office.
I tried the Mayor's office and was gratified to hear they had been receiving calls on the arrestees all day. When I told them that people were being held in disgraceful conditions, the operator told me that they were aware of that. She suggested that I call the Superior Court. I did and they told me they were not giving out information or taking complaints.
Please, please, make calls to all these organizations. Since arrestees are mostly not giving their names, please do not give names of specific people who were arrested when you call. Demand the immediate release of all arrestees.
Call these numbers.
DC Police Jail Central Holding 202-727-2894
DC Mayor Anthony Williams Executive Office 202-727-2980
Superior Court 202-879-1010
DC Mayor's office e-mail is: mayor at washingtondc.gov Their website is www.washingtondc.gov
Chief of Police, Office of the Chief Charles H. Ramsey Police Headquarters 202-727-4218 202-727-9524 (fax) E-mail address: mpdcchief_org at excite.com You can find a directory of the offices of the entire Metro DC PD at http://www.mpdc.org/frame.htm
Eileen Clancy