One of the most horrific stories to come out of Chicago, really in the nation, in the early 1990s was that of Chicago Police Lt. John Burge. Burge worked out of the Austin district in Chicago. Austin has long been one of the most violent and poverty-stricken neighborhoods. It is based on the far west side of the city and borders the suburb of Oak Park. Anyone who has spent some time in Oak Park is familiar with Austin because a line of trees separates that neighborhood from Oak Park, a progressive, but wealthy suburb.
Austin is generally considered the front-line in the drug war and has paid a heavy price for it over the years. In 1993 Lt. Burge and several underlings were fired after the department determined he used excessive force. In this case, excessive force was a euphemism for systematic toture. Suffocation, Russian Roulette, electric shock and traditional beatings were some of the means of getting confessions under Burge. Ten people are on death row that went through Burge’s period, these four are probably the clearest cases.
Burge was acquitted in one specific case back in 1993, however, since a federal judge has appointed a special prosecutor to investigate dozens of claims of torture. In several cases, the evidence disappeared–or more likely never existed given a confession was extracted.
Tomorrow, Ryan will announce what he will do in relation to the larger population of death row inmates.