Imprisoned in SeaTac without charges, pressed for May Day information

Being thrown in prison without being charged with a crime isn’t supposed to happen in America.

But two Washington residents have been locked up in SeaTac for five months under just those circumstances as prosecutors try to squeeze them for information.

This all comes from the May Day riots of last year when masked protesters smashed windows across downtown, including the old federal courthouse.

As federal prosecutors searched for those responsible, they brought in Katherine Olejnik and Matthew Duran. They weren’t even in Seattle that day, but prosecutors believed they might know some of the people who were.

But when the two refused to answer questions about the political views and social beliefs of these people in front of a grand jury, Olejnik and Duran were thrown in the federal detention center in SeaTac. They weren’t charged with a crime. They weren’t even accused of a crime.

The Stranger reports prosecutors were trying to sweat them to make them talk, but the two never flinched.

They have spent the last five months locked up. Two of those months have been in solitary confinement, but Thursday, they will be released. The federal judge handling their case said it’s time to let them go.

They could still be charged with contempt.