Well how well did torture work in Chicago?

http://www.compusmart.ab.ca/deadmantalking/question.htm

6. MORATORIUM. Gov. George Ryan recently announced that he was imposing a moratorium on Illinois' death sentences to review its death penalty procedures. Gov. Ryan's spokesman stated "You have a system right now that's fraught with error and has innumerable opportunities for innocent people to be executed." Nationwide, 87 innocent people have been released from death row since 1973--six in 1999 alone. Some were saved only hours before their scheduled execution. The average time these people spent on death row was seven years. Efforts by courts and legislatures to speed up the time between conviction and execution mean that other people on death row likely have been and will be executed before their innocence is discovered. All too often, a prisoner's innocence is discovered only because of the extraordinary and fortuitous efforts of people outside the system; i.e., students, kids on a research assignment, exposed what the law and the courts could not expose when Illinois journalism students discovered that 13 of 25 condemned men were factually innocent of the capital crimes of which they were convicted.


http://humanrights.uchicago.edu/chicagotorture/

FACTS AT A GLANCE

Between the years of 1972 and 1991, approximately 135 African-American men and women were arrested and tortured at the hands of former Chicago Police Commander Jon Burge and officers under his command at Area 2 police headquarters. Some of these victims were as young as thirteen years old. Various court cases have established that the methods of torture used in the interrogation of suspects included electric shock to the ears and genitalia, mock executions, suffocation, and burning. While Jon Burge was ultimately fired by the Chicago Police Department, not a single perpetrator of the tortures has ever been criminally prosecuted.

These incidents were not isolated and allegations of abuse by Burge continue to surface. In fact, the Area 2 cases are seen by many observers as part of a pattern and practice of racially-motivated police brutality in Chicago that has been revealed over the course of many years. This site is devoted to telling the stories of the Area 2 victims and seeking justice for those without a voice.

Today, over two decades have passed since the first allegations of torture by Chicago police officers surfaced. Many of the allegations have been acknowledged to be credible. For example, Judge Milton Shadur of the U.S. District Court (N.D. Ill.) found that:

“It is now common knowledge that in the early to mid-1980s Chicago Police Commander Jon Burge and many officers working under him in the physical abuse and torture of prisoners to extract confessions.” U.S. ex rel. Maxwell v. Gilmore 37 F. Supp.2d 1078 (N.D. Ill. 1999)

And yet—Jon Burge and his fellow torturers remain free. None of the perpetrators have faced a criminal trial. How has this grave impunity transpired? What does the future hold for Burge and his accomplices?

Please explore our site to find more information and learn what is being done to help bring justice to the Area 2 victims and their families.

This archive, an on-going project, is the result of a joint effort by Human Rights Program faculty and staff, Students for Human Rights, the MacArthur Justice Center, the People's Law Office, and attorneys who have contributed their time and energy to working on these cases. The archive is dedicated to the memory of Dr. Robert Kirschner (1940-2002), an internationally recognized forensic pathologist, a founder of the University of Chicago Human Rights Program and faculty member of the Medical School. Dr. Kirschner played an essential role in the documentation of torture in these cases.


List of Victims

The following chart documents the 101 known and documented torture victims of Burge and his detectives from 1972- 1991. It was compiled in March of 2005 by the Peoples’ Law Office. Since this time, more than 30 other victims have come forward with their stories.

* Took Fifth Amendment when asked about this torture.
** Torture and abuse occurred during interrogation.
***All cases from 8/5/72 through 11/6/87 are Area 2 cases.

http://humanrights.uchicago.edu/chicagotorture/victims.shtml

other commander. Of course, the innocence of many of those folks has to be ignored.

late in the day while Daley was out of town/unable for comment...

-snip-
Four alleged torture victims of former Chicago Police Commander Jon Burge and his Area 2 cohorts will divide a $19.8 million city settlement under an agreement disclosed today that black aldermen say will allow the “nightmare” to end and the healing to begin.

Without the agreement to compensate Aaron Patterson, Leroy Orange, Stanley Howard and Madison Hobley, newly appointed Chicago Police Supt. Jody Weis would have had a difficult time following through on his promise to re-establish trust between citizens and police in the African-American community, the aldermen contend.

-snip-

According to (plaintiff attorney Flint) Taylor, the “unfinished business” includes: settling with alleged torture victim Darrell Cannon; resolving claims against Cook County State’s Attorney Richard Devine; coming to grips with men still behind bars who also allege they were tortured by Burge and his cohorts and the “indictment and prosecution” of Burge.

http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/686273,burge120707.article

Had they gone to trial, the plaintiffs could have likely won and been awarded as much as ten times what the settlement will pay out. Add the $18 million in attorney fees, investigations and other settlements that Burge's crimes have cost the city and the question remains just who is really being protected, because that scumbag isn't worth a dime.

I know for a fact that to this day Burge and his men believe that their torture worked, that they did the right thing, and that only bleeding-heart liberals, lily-livered politicians and no-good black criminals trying to save their own hides are the only ones who think otherwise. It makes me sick.

My country is sick

Remember the three thousand people that were rounded up after 9/11? We still don't know exactly how many there were. They were disappeared, hidden from lawyers and later, hundreds of tapes of mistreatment surfaced in New York. Some of them were deported. They were treated like meat the entire time. That was our first response.

It's a keeper.