The Village Voice, in an article by Nat Hentoff about Steven Brill's book "After", reported in 2003 that Chertoff is in favor of lengthy imprisonment for detainees. Brill and Hentoff also noted:
"Chertoff reasoned that while they were being held they would be discouraged from calling lawyers, and could be questioned without lawyers present because they were not being charged with any crime."
If you're not charged, you don't need an attorney? Sounds like, "If you sink and drown, you're not a witch."
Chertoff and the others in [a Justice Department strategy meeting], reports Brill, knew that under INS rules, the prisoners "were entitled to call a lawyer from jail, but the lists the INS provided of available lawyers invariably had phone numbers that were not in service." (Emphasis added.)
Brill adds that "according to one person who says he was there, someone in the room remarked that the government should not try too hard to make sure these people could contact lawyers. 'Let's not make it so they can get Johnnie Cochran on the phone,' another lawyer added."
Wonderful. More human rights violators elevated in the Bush administration.