Rally demands clemency for survivors of Chicago police torture

Chicago, IL – Over 30 protesters rallied in downtown Chicago, outside the office of Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker, to demand he grant executive clemency to all incarcerated survivors of police torture and wrongful conviction. The protest was organized by the Campaign to Free Incarcerated Survivors of Police Torture (CFIST), a grassroots campaign led by survivors of wrongful conviction and their loved ones.

The protesters called on Pritzker to move on the 2000-plus clemency petitions sitting on his desk, starting by granting clemency for all petitioners who have credible cases of police torture and wrongful conviction.

“The governor has the power with the stroke of his pen to free innocent people, and yet he continues to ignore us,” said Jasmine Smith, a leader of CFIST and a loved one of Rico Clark, one of hundreds of wrongfully convicted clemency petitioners waiting on action from Pritzker

Clark was wrongfully convicted based on the actions of Chicago Police Detectives Brian Forberg, Kevin Eberle and John Foster, infamous torture cops who have advanced their careers by securing convictions based solely on coerced witness testimony.

While Clark fights for his freedom from inside Illinois prisons, other survivors of Chicago’s torture machine have won their freedom and continue to pressure the governor to take a stand against these injustices.

One of those survivors is Mark Clements, who was tortured at age 16 by detectives working under Jon Burge, the grandfather of Chicago police torture. Today, Clements is a leading organizer with the Chicago Torture Justice Center, and he didn’t mince words when speaking at Friday’s protest.

Clements condemned the web of torture cops that sends innocent people to prison and the rotten food, dirty water, medical neglect and physical abuse at the hands of correctional staff that survivors suffer inside Illinois prisons.

“I am mad because the same conditions that existed to send me to prison still exist to this day,” Clements said. “We must stand up for justice!”

Next to speak was Clayborn Smith, another survivor of torture at the hands of the detectives who worked under Burge, known as the Midnight Crew. As a teenager, Smith was beaten, threatened and interrogated for 39 hours before signing a false confession that landed him three decades in prison.

“Prizker’s inaction when he has the power to free hundreds of torture survivors is a show of support for the injustices that have earned Chicago the title of torture capital of the United States,” Smith said. “This system is what is being defended by keeping these men and women in prison.”

Mass pressure targeting governors to use their powers to address criminal injustices is a strategy that has seen success. Past Illinois governors have taken bold, progressive action using executive powers after sustained pressure from the movement, as in the case of Governor George Ryan, who issued a moratorium on the death penalty and commuted the sentences of 167 death row prisoners near the end of his term.

Friday’s protest against Pritzker comes at a time when he is seeking to present himself as a “progressive” for his 2028 presidential bid. But for Frank Chapman, a torture survivor and executive director of the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression, said that Pritzker is a billionaire governor who refuses to use his power to right wrongs, and that he is better described as a “criminal.”

In his remarks, Chapman asked the protesters, if kidnappings, coercion and torture are a violation of the constitution, what does that say about Pritzker when he allows it to happen?

Chapman stated, “The governor is guilty,” he said. “So we demand that you get up off your guilty ass and sign these pardons, commutations and clemencies!”

This rally against the governor was the largest CFIST has organized to date, according to its organizers, and they promised it won’t be the last.

#ChicagoIL #IL #InJusticeSystem #PoliceBrutality #Torture #CFIST

Source: https://fightbacknews.org/rally-demands-clemency-for-survivors-of-chicago-police-torture?pk_campaign=rss-feed