Chicago Cop Arrested for Role in Torture Cases

by Matt Kelley · 2008-10-21 17:16:00 UTC
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Former Chicago cop Jon Burge was arrested before dawn this morning at his Florida home for lying under oath about his role in torture of suspects through the 70s and 80s. This was a long time coming.

Burge has repeatedly denied his role in the horrifying torture that led to countless wrongful convictions on Chicago's South Side, but his role as ringleader is hard to dispute. A 2006 report by special prosecutors laid it pretty bare. The city settled civil suits for $20 million with four people who falsely confessed under Burge's pressure.

Burge and his fellow officers would put phonebooks on the heads of suspects and hit the phonebooks with hammers - giving them concussions without leaving a mark. They would put bags over suspects' heads until they passed out. The even - more than a few times - connected live electric cords to the testicles of suspects and electrocuted them.

Other charges in the case could be forthcoming.

Here is the Chicago Tribune's coverage today.

And some more background:

The Chicago Tribune collected reactions from the city's major players.

The indictment of Burge is here.

One of my favorite books about the criminal justice system in America is Steve Bogira's Courtroom 302 - which covers a year in a Chicago felony courtroom from every angle. Even in the late 90's - when Bogira's book is set - Burge's legacy looms large over the cops, judges and defendants on the South Side.

Matt Kelley is the Online Communications Manager at the Innocence Project and a graduate of the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University. Follow him on Twitter @mattjkelley.
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