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Burge Reparations Fund, Formal Apology OK'd by Council Committee

By Ted Cox | May 5, 2015 12:13pm
 The City Council is creating a $5.5 million fund for torture victims of Police Cmdr. Jon Burge, seen here during his 2010 perjury trial.
The City Council is creating a $5.5 million fund for torture victims of Police Cmdr. Jon Burge, seen here during his 2010 perjury trial.
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Alex Garcia/Getty Images

CITY HALL — A City Council committee formally moved Tuesday to create a $5.5 million reparations fund for torture victims of notorious Police Cmdr. Jon Burge and approved a resolution apologizing for his actions.

The resolution states that the City Council "wishes to acknowledge this exceedingly sad and painful chapter in Chicago's history, and to formally express its profound regret."

It cites how Burge was fired after a torture incident in 1993, and that more than 100 African-Americans were torture victims of Burge and his "midnight crew" of Chicago Police Department colleagues over nearly two decade, from 1972 to 1991.

An accompanying ordinance creates a $5.5 million reparations fund, with a maximum of $100,000 going to each victim.

It also calls for a memorial and for the topic of Burge's torture to be taught in Chicago Public Schools, as well as allowing free counseling and tuition at City Colleges for torture victims and their families.

Families of victims who have died, however, would not be eligible for financial reparations.

Wallace "Gator" Bradley, of the activist group United in Peace, called the omission of reparations for family members of dead victims insensitive and cruel.

But Corporation Counsel Steve Patton said, "We had a limited pool of money," and the general feeling of those who negotiated the compromise, including the group Chicago Torture Justice Memorials, was that "the money should go to the people who are still alive."

An April hearing documented that many of Burge's victims saw statute of limitations deadlines pass and have received no compensation.

The city has paid $64 million in Burge settlements.

The measures passed by a voice vote and headed to the full City Council for final approval on Wednesday.

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