Chicago, IL- 50 survivors of wrongful convictions and police torture, family members and community packed into a small South Side church for a town hall meeting on police torture and wrongful conviction on the evening of March 21.

The town hall was organized by the Campaign to Free Incarcerated Survivors of Police Torture (CFIST), a campaign of the Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression (CAARPR) and featured a panel of survivors of police torture and wrongful conviction and their family members.

Chicago has a unique history of police torture dating back to the 1970s, when disgraced police commander Jon Burge and his “midnight crew” of racist detectives began a decades-long pattern of torture, targeting mostly Black men on Chicago’s South Side. Today, corrupt detectives in CPD and their allies in the Cook County states attorney’s office continue to tear families apart and draw them into conflict with the system.

“I’m in this fight because I was victimized,” said Robert Johnson, who was released from prison last month after serving nearly 29 years for a 1996 murder he had nothing to do with.

“I’m a survivor,” Johnson said in his remarks on the panel. “I think about these brothers that are still locked up every day. It’s hell in there.”

Jasmine Smith, a co-chair of both CFIST and CAARPR, set the tone for the event by asking the panel, “What needs to change in order to stop this pattern of police torture and abuse?”

Clayborn Smith, a wrongful conviction survivor and litigator, said change will not come from the current political parties. “Neither Democrat nor Republican actually want to do anything about [police torture and wrongful convictions],” Smith said. “They never talk about all the wrongfully convicted people locked up while the real criminal is on the streets.”

Adolfo Davis, who was sentenced to life without parole at age 14 and spent 27 years in prison, agreed with Smith about the need for mass action beyond mainstream political parties. “We know who politicians are,” Davis said. “We need us to change anything.”

Davis continued, calling out the racist tactics used by the ruling class to divide oppressed peoples. “They made us believe immigrants are our enemy,” he said. “It was all a plan to control us. Stop being tricked.”

“Change starts from you, the people, “ said Mark Clements, who spent 28 years in prison after being tortured into giving a false confession by Burge and his “midnight crew.” Today, he is an organizer with the Chicago Torture Justice Center and sits on the board of The Illinois Torture Inquiry and Relief Commission (TIRC).

Clements called out the economic basis for mass incarceration and racist policing, and called for mass action to fight back. “From the days of the Montgomery Bus Boycott, we saw that when you affect their economics, they are open to change,” he said. “This system operates around money.”

Annette Gomez, wife of Elias Gomez, not only uplifted her husband’s case of 30 years of wrongful conviction, but she also reminded the room that this struggle is larger than just one case. “We have to continue to fight not just for my husband, but for your brother, and your cousin, and your nephew,” she said. “It doesn’t stop here.”

#ChicagoIL #IL #InJusticeSystem #PoliceCrimes #CAARPR #CFIST #TIRC

Chicago, IL- A dozen protesters gathered on Friday, September 19 outside the 50th Anniversary Gala of the Illinois Humanities nonprofit, a celebration for which Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker had been named an honorary co-chair. The protesters rallied and chanted to demand that Pritzker use his executive power to grant clemency for hundreds of petitioners with credible claims of police torture and wrongful conviction.

The protest was organized by the Campaign to Free Incarcerated Survivors of Police Torture, a campaign of the Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression (CAARPR). Pritzker is a primary target of the CFIST campaign because he has the power to free hundreds of torture survivors, and he has presented himself as a progressive by speaking out against Trump and through association with nonprofits like Illinois Humanities.

Pritzker is aware of the legacy of police torture in Chicago, having commuted the sentence of Gerald Reed, a survivor of torture at the hands of the infamous torture cop Jon Burge. But he hasn’t acted on the pile of clemency petitions on his desk, hundreds of which were written by survivors of torture.

“It don’t make sense for him to have the power with a stroke of his pen to free these people, and yet he does nothing,” said Patricia Williams, a co-chair of CAARPR. “That was one of the first things he promised us, that he was going to pardon those people who were wrongfully imprisoned.”

“I’m calling on the governor to have a heart and stop wasting taxpayers’ dollars keeping people behind bars who are innocent,” said Mark Clements, a survivor of police torture and leader at the Chicago Torture Justice Center. Clements was tortured by Chicago police in 1981 and received a settlement from the city of Chicago as a result of his wrongful conviction.

“There are people who have been locked up for 41 years, and none of their sentences are being commuted,” said Clayborn Smith, who spent 31 years in a maximum security prison as a result of a confession extracted through torture. While incarcerated, Smith submitted a claim to the Torture Inquiry and Relief Commission (TIRC), the only body of its kind in the country, which was created to assess claims of torture and decide whether they merit judicial review.

The TIRC found Smith’s case to be credible in 2013, but it took another ten years for him to be released from what he described as “the egregious, horrific nightmare that the Chicago machine put us through.”

Smith urged the governor to use his power to grant clemency for torture survivors who remain incarcerated, before it’s too late for them, stating, “I could have been one of the many torture victims that died in prison waiting for some justice.”

Protesters chanted “Brick by brick, wall by wall, free our loved ones! Free them all!” as passersby and gala attendees stopped to express support and learn more.

#ChicagoIL #IL #InJusticeSystem #PoliceCrimes #CAARPR #CFIST #TIRC #Torture

Chicago, IL – Activists gathered at the Cook County Courthouse Wednesday morning, August 6 to support three survivors of wrongful conviction. They demanded freedom and certificates of innocence for Rico Clark, Douglas Livingston and Kevin Jackson. They also demanded that torture-cops Brian Forberg, John Foster and Kevin Eberle be held accountable for the wrongful convictions of Clark, Livingston, Jackson, and 38 other Black men.

“We won’t stop fighting until all our loved ones are free from these god-forsaken slave ships,” said Jasmine Smith, loved one of Rico Clark and co-chair of the Campaign to Free Incarcerated Survivors of Torture (CFIST), at a press conference in the courthouse.

CFIST is a campaign of the Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression (CAARPR) demanding that Governor JB Pritzker grant clemency for all torture survivors and wrongfully convicted. CFIST also demands States Attorney Eileen Burke drop the charges in confirmed cases of police torture.

The campaign aims to dismantle the system of torture that has earned Chicago the moniker “torture capital of the U.S.” It also fights for particular survivors of torture and wrongful conviction.

Rico Clark was convicted in 2006 based on the testimony of witnesses coerced by officers Forberg and Eberle. Clark’s wife and father watched from the gallery as Judge Pamela Stratigakis allowed the prosecution to delay Clark’s case by more than a month. State's attorneys had not yet responded to Clark’s petition for a certificate of innocence, which they received 10 months prior. His next court date is September 5.

Loved ones of Douglas Livingston and dozens of other families had to wait for Judge Timothy Joyce to arrive 30 minutes late. Livingston was convicted in 2012 by Forberg’s corrupt practices. After nearly an hour of delays and a brief hearing, Livingston's case was assigned a continuation date for September 24.

“We shouldn't have to go to court when everyone knows my nephew is innocent,” said Norma Jean Scales, Livingston’s aunt.

Kevin Jackson spent over 23 years in prison before he was exonerated in 2025. He filed for a Certificate of Innocence almost nine months ago based on the witness coercion by officers Forberg and Foster. Special prosecutor for State’s Attorney Fabio Valentini, was not prepared to respond. Judge Ericka Reddick granted Valentini’s request for extra time. Jackson was assigned a continuation date for September 29.

“It’s like being locked up all over again,” Kevin Jackson explained the effect of these delays.

“It’s up and down emotions,” said Mark Clements, a survivor and organizer with the Chicago Torture Justice Center. “But we have to keep fighting so we're not here in 30 years because of what the police are doing now.”

“This is just another delay in justice for these survivors,” Smith said after all three cases were continued. “We demand that State's Attorney Burke, Mayor Johnson and Governor Pritzker all act to free them now!”

Smith and other activists plan to keep attending every court date and encourage people to support the Community Power Over Policing (CPOP) referendum when it gets introduced into City Council next month. If passed, the CPOP referendum would give Chicagoans a directly elected body with control over CPD policy and budget, the ability to negotiate the police union contract, and the power to hire and fire the police superintendent.

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Chicago, IL – 50 people rallied in Washington Square Park on Saturday, June 21, near the two Gold Coast properties of Illinois Governor JB Pritzker. They demand that the governor grant executive clemency to the hundreds of proven survivors of police torture and wrongful conviction who are still incarcerated in Illinois.

The action was organized by the Campaign to Free Incarcerated Survivors of Torture (CFIST), one of the central campaigns of the Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression (CAARPR).

Activist Jasmine Smith, co-chair of the CFIST Committee of CAARPR, kicked off the rally by informing the residents of Gold Coast about the governor’s abandonment of torture survivors in the Illinois prison system and highlighting parallels between plantations and “correctional” centers.

“We get calls day after day after day of the way that the prisons are being ran,” Smith said. “they have no functioning good water, that they have no functioning air conditioning, they have nothing by the means of keeping the person healthy and safe in those prisons.”

Smith, whose loved ones Rico Clark and Lester Owens were wrongfully convicted in 2006 and 2007, continued “They are being treated worse than animals, and we say shame on you, Governor, and shame on you, Lieutenant Governor, because y’all can step in at any time and take a strong stance when it comes to the prison and the ways that these prisons are being ran in Illinois, and you’re not.”

Survivors and family members shared testimonies of the crimes committed by police against themselves and their loved ones and their steadfast battles against the criminal legal system, as some passersby paused their daily walks to listen. Douglas Livingston, who has been incarcerated since his wrongful conviction in 2012, thanked attendees over the phone for fighting for his freedom from the outside. Livingston is one of over a dozen Black men, including Rico Clark and Lester Owens, who were wrongfully convicted by the corrupt practices of detective Brian P Forberg.

Marie Ketchum, whose brother, Sai Pinesta, has been incarcerated for over 20 years after being wrongfully convicted of murder, was one of several family members and survivors who spoke about the importance of organization in the fight to free survivors.

“Today, I’m here not just as a sister but as a voice for justice for my brother, Sai Pinesta, and countless others still trapped behind these walls,” Ketchum said. “We must speak, organize and fight. We must demand that elected officials, from prosecutors to governors like JB Pritzker, no longer turn a blind eye to the lives destroyed under their watch. Hold those in power accountable because they won’t correct themselves unless we force them to.”

Merawi Gerima, the other co-chair of the CFIST committee, was in Washington DC during the protest but linked the oppression of his own loved ones with those of immigrants in the U.S. and oppressed people around the world in a written statement.

“The best payback is our movement,” Gerima said. “Only we can stop both mass incarceration and mass deportation. Both are carried out by billionaires and their politicians, red and blue, against our people. Just like it’s the same people carrying out the genocide of Palestinians and now bombing Iran.”

Many of the protesters attended one of the weekly marches organized by the Coalition for Justice in Palestine (CJP) directly after the CFIST rally. Rania Salem, member and activist of the US Palestinian Community Network (USPCN), which is a member of CJP, spoke on the importance of international solidarity.

“The criminalization, police killings, and mass incarceration of Black people here in the belly of the beast is almost the same as how Palestinians in Palestine are criminalized, murdered by the IOF, and are imprisoned in Israeli jails,” Salem Said.

Protesters chanted “Free them all!” and “Free them now!” Jasmine Smith closed the rally by encouraging attendees to get involved by supporting survivors at court dates, planning future actions, and calling their alderpersons about the referendum for community power over policing (CPOP).

“We have many actions coming up,” Smith said in closing. “It’s gonna be a busy, freedom fighting ass summer.”

#ChicagoIL #IL #InJusticeSystem #PoliceCrimes #Torture #CFIST #CAARPR #NAARPR #CPOP

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