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There is a difference between police brutality and being housed in less than ideal conditions.

"Less than ideal" doesn't describe them. The NYPD had a year to prepare for this, and signs point to deliberate neglect. The conditions were filthy and unsanitary; people got skin rashes from fuel sludge on the floor. Detainees, many under 18, were kept for illegally long periods up to two days or more. The NYPD ignored their own laws about how long they could hold people without processing them. If the NYPD were trying to do something other than to "teach the punks a lesson", they could have done things much differently. We're talking basic competence and basic respect that form the basis for our civil liberties.

Anybody who wanted to avoid such conditions had the opportunity of walking away at any time.

This has been disputed by multiple accounts of how it happened. You're pretty much accusing every innocent bystander who was arrested of lying. I don't think you have the grounds for doing so. It is obvious to me that the police weren't interested in anything so much as getting as many protesters off the street for as long as possible, and they weren't going to discriminate based on someone's excuses.

Since poor conditions in the facilities became news almost immediately, I can't accept that thousand+ people willingly accepted arrest just to make a point. If they could have walked away and staged a protest five blocks away later in the day, why wouldn't they have?

Again, the conclusion here is that your opinion is at odds with what's been widely reported and discussed.

I think the NYPD had an impossible job that week. They needed to protect the President and the delegates from a large number of protesters who could have gotten out of hand. I disagree with some of the tactics they used and I think their tactics speak of a basic lack of respect for civil liberties. We live in a democracy, we can talk about its abuses.

We live in a democracy, we can talk about its abuses.

Have you ever been arrested? Jails are intentionally unpleasant places. They are designed to act as a deterrent to unlawful behavior. Hopefully these did their job and some of these idiots will think twice next time they are ordered to disperse by a law enforcement official. But somehow I doubt it.