Former Chicago Police Commander Jon Burge is scheduled to be released from prison today after his 2010 conviction for lying about the torture of suspects in police custody. He will be released to a halfway house to serve the rest of his sentence.
Chicago torture victim Anthony Holmes speaks out against Jon Burge and torture.
Amnesty International USA has urged the Chicago City Council to take action by passing an ordinance that would create a commission to administer financial compensation to victims, as well as create a medical, psychological, and vocational center on the South Side of the city. Such services are not provided for survivors of domestic torture; the approximately 40 torture treatment centers currently operating within the United States only assist those who have been tortured overseas.
Officers at the Chicago Police Department’s Area 2 and 3 police stations systematically tortured over 100 people over two decades under Burge’s direction. Suspects were subjected to beatings and electric shocks; had plastic bags placed over their heads and had been threatened with mock executions. Forced confessions resulted in many individuals being sentenced to long prison terms or even death.
International law strictly prohibits the use of torture and other ill-treatment, and stipulates that governments are responsible for investigating torture allegations, bringing criminal proceedings in torture cases and compensating the survivors. Yet torture is not technically a crime under U.S. law. While refugees who have been tortured abroad have access to treatment centers to assist them, those who have been tortured by U.S. authorities are not given the same consideration.
The U.S. cannot be an international leader of human rights when it denies justice to those who have been tortured in our own backyard. Burge is moving on with his life today, but too many of those who endured his policies of torture are denied that chance.Those who were tortured by the Chicago Police Department under Burge’s watch deserve justice. Amnesty International activists around the country today are participating in photo actions to show solidarity with these torture survivors in the U.S. Join us in this call for justice.
Oct 2, 2014 – Press conference with Alder attorneys, activists and Burge torture survivors calling on the City Council and Mayor Emmanuel to pass the ordinance providing Reparations for the Chicago Police Torture survivors.
Whether torture occurs in South Sudan or the Southside of Chicago, it is a crime and should not be tolerated.
For more information and opportunities to take action, check out Amnesty International’s global #StopTorture Campaign.
Great article, thanks.
In the state of Georgia, Hall county claims torture is considered experimental medical treatment and is practised mainly on women over 50 with handicaps and disabilities when arrested for parking violations like broken side view mirrors, scratches on a windshield, low tire pressure, etc. the victims are imprisoned for weeks to months with no bond and are drugged with barbituates while under what they call treatments to make them better. It's disgusting what the sherriffs department can think up and do to women just for being old or crippled, and it usually takes a couple months before they allow the relief that death brings. The few that survive are never the same again & require long term medical treatment for the permanant damage to their bodies caused by the frostbite, prolonged dehydration and continual physical & emotional abuse & torture if their fortunate enough to have financial donations large enough for payoffs & attorneys to be released in time.
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