1 00:00:05,920 --> 00:00:08,520 Speaker 1: Hey, it's Laura and I writer. In twenty twenty, we 2 00:00:08,600 --> 00:00:12,800 Speaker 1: brought you the truly horrifying story of John Burge, the 3 00:00:12,960 --> 00:00:16,880 Speaker 1: now disgraced Chicago police officer who oversaw a group of 4 00:00:16,920 --> 00:00:20,639 Speaker 1: white cops who turned their investigation room into a torture 5 00:00:20,720 --> 00:00:24,759 Speaker 1: chamber for black men. They called themselves the Midnight Crew. 6 00:00:25,440 --> 00:00:28,160 Speaker 1: Now there's nothing anyone can do to fully right the 7 00:00:28,200 --> 00:00:31,200 Speaker 1: wrongs done by John Burge, but the city of Chicago 8 00:00:31,360 --> 00:00:35,360 Speaker 1: is making remarkable efforts to ameliorate the damage. To date, 9 00:00:35,720 --> 00:00:38,960 Speaker 1: dozens of John Burge's victims have had their sentences overturned, 10 00:00:39,400 --> 00:00:42,480 Speaker 1: and in twenty fifteen, the city passed a reparations bill 11 00:00:42,760 --> 00:00:46,440 Speaker 1: that will compensate the victims and their families. Now, part 12 00:00:46,479 --> 00:00:49,200 Speaker 1: of that reparations package was meant to include a physical 13 00:00:49,360 --> 00:00:52,440 Speaker 1: memorial to the victims and to the torture they survived. 14 00:00:52,880 --> 00:00:55,120 Speaker 1: The idea was that it would serve as an enduring 15 00:00:55,320 --> 00:00:58,880 Speaker 1: public acknowledgment of the crimes against humanity that took place 16 00:00:58,880 --> 00:01:03,080 Speaker 1: in Chicago. Like war memorials, it would call on future 17 00:01:03,120 --> 00:01:05,960 Speaker 1: generations to remember what happened and to stand up to 18 00:01:06,040 --> 00:01:09,520 Speaker 1: similar abuses in the future. But here's the thing that 19 00:01:09,600 --> 00:01:12,720 Speaker 1: promise has yet to be fulfilled. The reparations bill has 20 00:01:12,760 --> 00:01:16,319 Speaker 1: been passed and a design for the memorial has been approved, 21 00:01:16,840 --> 00:01:20,080 Speaker 1: but city aldermen and the Mayor's office have not allocated 22 00:01:20,120 --> 00:01:23,840 Speaker 1: the funds for construction. It's estimated that the memorial will 23 00:01:23,880 --> 00:01:27,640 Speaker 1: cost two point twenty five million dollars, which may sound 24 00:01:27,640 --> 00:01:30,080 Speaker 1: like a lot of money until you learn that over 25 00:01:30,120 --> 00:01:33,080 Speaker 1: the years, the city has spent more than thirty seven 26 00:01:33,160 --> 00:01:37,520 Speaker 1: million dollars defending John Burge in court. It's time to 27 00:01:37,520 --> 00:01:40,240 Speaker 1: build this memorial. As the old saying goes, those who 28 00:01:40,319 --> 00:01:43,640 Speaker 1: forget history are doomed to repeat it, and no one 29 00:01:43,640 --> 00:01:46,520 Speaker 1: should suffer the abuses of the Midnight Crew ever again. 30 00:01:54,720 --> 00:01:58,120 Speaker 1: Welcome to wrongful Conviction, False Confessions. I'm Laura and I writer. 31 00:01:58,200 --> 00:01:59,360 Speaker 2: And I'm Steve Dressing. 32 00:02:02,200 --> 00:02:04,680 Speaker 1: You know, we've talked a lot during our podcast about 33 00:02:04,680 --> 00:02:08,600 Speaker 1: psychological interrogation techniques, but this is a really different case. 34 00:02:09,040 --> 00:02:11,760 Speaker 1: This is physical torture. It's the kind of thing most 35 00:02:11,760 --> 00:02:15,360 Speaker 1: people think doesn't happen in the United States, but it did. 36 00:02:15,680 --> 00:02:20,280 Speaker 2: And it did in my lifetime in Chicago. This was real. 37 00:02:21,160 --> 00:02:23,520 Speaker 2: I said, how can this be going on? You know, 38 00:02:23,600 --> 00:02:26,799 Speaker 2: at the end of the twentieth century. I mean This 39 00:02:26,880 --> 00:02:30,639 Speaker 2: is medieval, This is the stuff of the Spanish Inquisition. 40 00:02:31,240 --> 00:02:37,639 Speaker 2: Because by and large, by the nineteen fifties, these kinds 41 00:02:37,639 --> 00:02:41,920 Speaker 2: of third degree tactics were no longer part of law enforcement. 42 00:02:42,400 --> 00:02:44,560 Speaker 1: You know, Steeve, I never knew what the term third 43 00:02:44,560 --> 00:02:47,080 Speaker 1: degree meant before I went to law school. So for 44 00:02:47,120 --> 00:02:51,040 Speaker 1: our audience, it means physical abuse during interrogations, right. 45 00:02:51,560 --> 00:02:51,760 Speaker 3: You know. 46 00:02:52,800 --> 00:02:57,760 Speaker 2: Chicago's history with police interrogations is a fascinating one. The 47 00:02:57,800 --> 00:03:02,119 Speaker 2: third degree thrived in Chicago and thirties, forties and fifties. 48 00:03:02,639 --> 00:03:07,200 Speaker 2: Then a group of police reformers brought in psychological interrogation 49 00:03:07,320 --> 00:03:12,160 Speaker 2: techniques that they believed would be less likely to lead 50 00:03:12,600 --> 00:03:17,480 Speaker 2: to false confessions. But in Chicago, old habits die hard. 51 00:03:18,480 --> 00:03:21,280 Speaker 1: It's easy for anyone to understand why someone would falsely 52 00:03:21,320 --> 00:03:24,880 Speaker 1: confess if they're being physically abused or tortured. That's no 53 00:03:25,000 --> 00:03:32,079 Speaker 1: way to get the truth, let alone justice. Today's story 54 00:03:32,120 --> 00:03:35,600 Speaker 1: starts on July twenty seventh, nineteen eighty eight. It's summer 55 00:03:35,600 --> 00:03:38,760 Speaker 1: in Chicago, one of the hottest on record, with temperatures 56 00:03:38,800 --> 00:03:43,120 Speaker 1: topping one hundred degrees. On the city's predominantly black South Side, 57 00:03:43,240 --> 00:03:46,080 Speaker 1: a lot of homes are older run down, don't have 58 00:03:46,120 --> 00:03:50,600 Speaker 1: air conditioning. Economic opportunities are thin, and people sweat just 59 00:03:50,600 --> 00:03:53,960 Speaker 1: to pay the bills. So when the temperature climbs, tempers 60 00:03:54,040 --> 00:03:57,120 Speaker 1: run high too. That's true for the residents and for 61 00:03:57,200 --> 00:04:01,280 Speaker 1: the police. On July twenty seven, though, things get way 62 00:04:01,320 --> 00:04:04,840 Speaker 1: too hot in a Southside neighborhood called Gage Park. In 63 00:04:04,880 --> 00:04:07,520 Speaker 1: the middle of the night, a brick bungalow goes up 64 00:04:07,520 --> 00:04:11,440 Speaker 1: in flames. After firefighters bring the blaze under control, police 65 00:04:11,480 --> 00:04:15,320 Speaker 1: go inside. They find five bodies, two women who had 66 00:04:15,320 --> 00:04:18,120 Speaker 1: worked as teacher's aids at a local school, and three 67 00:04:18,200 --> 00:04:21,640 Speaker 1: young children. All of the kids had been smothered with pillows. 68 00:04:22,080 --> 00:04:24,839 Speaker 1: One of the women had been beaten and strangled. The 69 00:04:24,880 --> 00:04:27,599 Speaker 1: other woman had been smothered too. She was the daughter 70 00:04:27,640 --> 00:04:31,440 Speaker 1: of a Chicago cop. It's a horrible crime, and the 71 00:04:31,480 --> 00:04:35,520 Speaker 1: case quickly becomes high profile. What Chicago police call a heater. 72 00:04:36,120 --> 00:04:39,640 Speaker 1: But there's no eyewitnesses, no forensic evidence, no nothing. So 73 00:04:39,800 --> 00:04:44,120 Speaker 1: police offer a two thousand dollars reward for information. Sure Enough, 74 00:04:44,240 --> 00:04:47,239 Speaker 1: just a few days later, a prison inmate calls police 75 00:04:47,600 --> 00:04:51,320 Speaker 1: and claims that his friend, Ronald Kitchen, confessed to him 76 00:04:51,360 --> 00:04:55,200 Speaker 1: over the phone. Now prison phone calls are recorded and monitored. 77 00:04:55,520 --> 00:04:58,279 Speaker 1: A quick check of the inmate's phone recordings reveals he 78 00:04:58,400 --> 00:05:00,960 Speaker 1: was lying. No one he spoke with had ever confessed 79 00:05:01,000 --> 00:05:04,839 Speaker 1: to anything, but with no other leads, the police decide 80 00:05:04,839 --> 00:05:07,960 Speaker 1: to go after Ronald' kitchen, and they go after him hard. 81 00:05:09,080 --> 00:05:11,600 Speaker 1: In nineteen eighty eight, Ronald was twenty two years old, 82 00:05:11,880 --> 00:05:14,520 Speaker 1: and as he admits today, he was no angel back then. 83 00:05:15,040 --> 00:05:17,279 Speaker 1: With one young child and a second on the way, 84 00:05:17,480 --> 00:05:20,080 Speaker 1: he made a living by selling cocaine, but he was 85 00:05:20,160 --> 00:05:22,839 Speaker 1: no killer and never had been. On the evening of 86 00:05:22,839 --> 00:05:25,599 Speaker 1: August twenty fifth, Ronald leaves his house and heads for 87 00:05:25,640 --> 00:05:28,120 Speaker 1: the corner store down the block. He's out to buy 88 00:05:28,120 --> 00:05:30,440 Speaker 1: a gallon of milk and some cookie dough for his 89 00:05:30,480 --> 00:05:34,160 Speaker 1: two year old son. Before he knows it, Ronald surrounded 90 00:05:34,160 --> 00:05:37,160 Speaker 1: by police cars. One of the officers says something about 91 00:05:37,160 --> 00:05:40,719 Speaker 1: a stolen vehicle. Another cop points a gun at him. 92 00:05:40,960 --> 00:05:43,560 Speaker 1: Ronald knows he had nothing to do with any car theft, 93 00:05:43,839 --> 00:05:45,680 Speaker 1: so he figures he'll be able to clear up the 94 00:05:45,680 --> 00:05:50,000 Speaker 1: situation without much difficulty. As the police put Ronald in handcuffs, 95 00:05:50,240 --> 00:05:52,839 Speaker 1: he hollers to his family down the block, I'll be 96 00:05:52,920 --> 00:05:56,080 Speaker 1: back in forty five minutes. Police bring Ronald to a 97 00:05:56,120 --> 00:05:59,720 Speaker 1: south side station called Area three. They throw him into 98 00:05:59,720 --> 00:06:02,760 Speaker 1: an interrogation room and cuff his hands to an iron 99 00:06:02,839 --> 00:06:05,760 Speaker 1: ring in the wall, and the account Ronald gives of 100 00:06:05,800 --> 00:06:10,040 Speaker 1: the next sixteen hours is harrowing. According to Ronald, an 101 00:06:10,040 --> 00:06:12,800 Speaker 1: officer comes in and asks who have you been talking to? 102 00:06:13,480 --> 00:06:16,360 Speaker 1: When Ronald doesn't know how to answer, the officer starts 103 00:06:16,400 --> 00:06:20,040 Speaker 1: punching him in the chest and kicking his stomach. Over 104 00:06:20,120 --> 00:06:22,880 Speaker 1: the next several hours, that officer would leave, then come 105 00:06:22,920 --> 00:06:26,200 Speaker 1: back again over and over to ask the same question, 106 00:06:26,520 --> 00:06:29,640 Speaker 1: who have you been talking to? And to continue the beatings. 107 00:06:30,240 --> 00:06:32,960 Speaker 1: Sometimes he'd be joined by a second officer. When that 108 00:06:33,080 --> 00:06:35,839 Speaker 1: officer entered the room, he would remove his name tag 109 00:06:36,000 --> 00:06:40,719 Speaker 1: before joining the assaults. After hours of beatings, a third 110 00:06:40,720 --> 00:06:44,360 Speaker 1: officer came into the room alone. He asked if Ronald 111 00:06:44,400 --> 00:06:47,480 Speaker 1: was okay and if he wanted anything to eat. When 112 00:06:47,560 --> 00:06:50,600 Speaker 1: Ronald asked to call a lawyer, he says, the officer smiled, 113 00:06:51,080 --> 00:06:54,560 Speaker 1: picked up the handset from a nearby phone, and smashed 114 00:06:54,560 --> 00:06:57,359 Speaker 1: it into Ronald's skull. Do you hear ringing? 115 00:06:57,400 --> 00:06:57,640 Speaker 2: Now? 116 00:06:57,920 --> 00:07:01,280 Speaker 1: Said the officer. On his way out, He turned off 117 00:07:01,320 --> 00:07:05,640 Speaker 1: the lights, leaving Ronald in the dark for hours. The 118 00:07:05,680 --> 00:07:09,159 Speaker 1: beatings continued, with Ronald waiting in agony for the next 119 00:07:09,200 --> 00:07:12,160 Speaker 1: round to start. The officers focused on areas of his 120 00:07:12,240 --> 00:07:15,640 Speaker 1: body where damage wouldn't be visible. At one point, officers 121 00:07:15,680 --> 00:07:18,600 Speaker 1: cuffed both his hands behind his back and used their 122 00:07:18,720 --> 00:07:22,160 Speaker 1: nightsticks to beat his genitals. But their desire to cover 123 00:07:22,200 --> 00:07:25,360 Speaker 1: their tracks didn't stop the police from targeting Ronald's head too. 124 00:07:25,840 --> 00:07:27,880 Speaker 1: They just used a phone book to cushion the blows 125 00:07:28,000 --> 00:07:29,080 Speaker 1: and avoid leaving a mark. 126 00:07:29,720 --> 00:07:34,000 Speaker 2: This torture session was clearly premeditated, mapped out in advance. 127 00:07:34,680 --> 00:07:38,520 Speaker 2: The whole time. They were also calling Ronald racial slurs. 128 00:07:38,880 --> 00:07:42,480 Speaker 2: The N word just rolled off their tongues. The goal 129 00:07:42,520 --> 00:07:46,600 Speaker 2: here was total humiliation, physical and mental. 130 00:07:47,280 --> 00:07:51,520 Speaker 1: Hours of torture went by until Ronald finally broke. He 131 00:07:51,640 --> 00:07:55,840 Speaker 1: signed a false confession dictated by the police, admitting to 132 00:07:55,880 --> 00:07:59,800 Speaker 1: the Gage Park killings. Based on that confession, Ronald Kitchen 133 00:07:59,840 --> 00:08:02,880 Speaker 1: was charged with capital murder, meaning that he was facing 134 00:08:02,880 --> 00:08:06,520 Speaker 1: the death penalty. At his first court appearance, Ronald told 135 00:08:06,560 --> 00:08:09,120 Speaker 1: the judge that he'd been tortured. A few days later, 136 00:08:09,240 --> 00:08:13,280 Speaker 1: Ronald was transferred to a hospital for treatment. At the hospital, 137 00:08:13,640 --> 00:08:17,800 Speaker 1: his urine ran red with blood. Despite all of this, 138 00:08:18,040 --> 00:08:21,560 Speaker 1: Ronald's false confession was allowed into evidence against him at trial, 139 00:08:21,920 --> 00:08:25,320 Speaker 1: along with the testimony of that prison snitch who still 140 00:08:25,360 --> 00:08:29,360 Speaker 1: claimed that Ronald had admitted the killings. On September nineteenth, 141 00:08:29,520 --> 00:08:33,600 Speaker 1: nineteen ninety, Ronald Kitchen was convicted of five counts of 142 00:08:33,679 --> 00:08:37,600 Speaker 1: murder and sent to death row. There, he'd soon discovered 143 00:08:37,679 --> 00:08:41,400 Speaker 1: he wasn't alone. At least nine other residents of Illinois's 144 00:08:41,440 --> 00:08:45,240 Speaker 1: death Row had been tortured into confessing too. There was 145 00:08:45,280 --> 00:08:46,920 Speaker 1: something much bigger going on. 146 00:08:55,200 --> 00:08:59,319 Speaker 4: This episode is sponsored by AIG, a leading global insurance company, 147 00:08:59,440 --> 00:09:03,319 Speaker 4: and Paul Weiss Rifkin, Wharton and Garrison, a leading international 148 00:09:03,400 --> 00:09:06,920 Speaker 4: law firm. The AIG pro Bono Program provides free legal 149 00:09:06,960 --> 00:09:11,800 Speaker 4: services and other support to many nonprofit organizations and individuals 150 00:09:11,880 --> 00:09:14,880 Speaker 4: most in need, and recently they announced that working to 151 00:09:14,920 --> 00:09:17,640 Speaker 4: reform the criminal justice system will become a key pillar 152 00:09:17,760 --> 00:09:21,199 Speaker 4: of the program's mission. Paul Weiss has long had an 153 00:09:21,280 --> 00:09:25,480 Speaker 4: unwavering commitment to providing impactful, pro bono legal assistance to 154 00:09:25,520 --> 00:09:28,559 Speaker 4: the most vulnerable members of our society and in support 155 00:09:28,600 --> 00:09:32,240 Speaker 4: of the public interest, including extensive work in the criminal 156 00:09:32,320 --> 00:09:32,960 Speaker 4: justice area. 157 00:09:38,360 --> 00:09:41,920 Speaker 1: What Ronald endured at Area three was no isolated incident. 158 00:09:42,520 --> 00:09:45,760 Speaker 1: Ronald Kitchen had encountered a group of white cops who 159 00:09:45,800 --> 00:09:50,319 Speaker 1: called themselves the Midnight Crew. The Midnight Crew closed cases 160 00:09:50,360 --> 00:09:54,440 Speaker 1: by torturing black men until they confessed, and they operated 161 00:09:54,559 --> 00:09:58,959 Speaker 1: under the authority of a Chicago police detective named John Burge. 162 00:09:59,240 --> 00:10:01,840 Speaker 2: To understand and what happened to Ronald, you have to 163 00:10:01,840 --> 00:10:06,760 Speaker 2: start asking some tough questions. What kind of police officer 164 00:10:07,080 --> 00:10:11,440 Speaker 2: would do this to another human being? What kind of 165 00:10:11,640 --> 00:10:16,720 Speaker 2: person would knowingly break the laws of common decency, the 166 00:10:16,800 --> 00:10:19,880 Speaker 2: laws of humanity just to get a confession. 167 00:10:20,480 --> 00:10:23,160 Speaker 1: When it comes to John Burge, the answer is complex. 168 00:10:23,600 --> 00:10:27,880 Speaker 1: Here's our friend John Conroy, the journalist who is investigative reporting, 169 00:10:28,040 --> 00:10:29,640 Speaker 1: exposed the Midnight Crew. 170 00:10:30,320 --> 00:10:34,200 Speaker 5: John Burge was a very driven police officer. Initially he 171 00:10:34,240 --> 00:10:36,520 Speaker 5: was a patrol officer, and then he was promoted to 172 00:10:36,520 --> 00:10:38,840 Speaker 5: the detective, and then he made sergeant, and then he 173 00:10:38,960 --> 00:10:43,720 Speaker 5: made lieutenant. He seemed to me like somebody who would 174 00:10:43,760 --> 00:10:47,160 Speaker 5: show up at my family's picnic and if my elderly 175 00:10:47,320 --> 00:10:51,440 Speaker 5: aunt had a problem starting her car on the way home, 176 00:10:51,600 --> 00:10:53,679 Speaker 5: he would have been the first woman out there trying 177 00:10:53,679 --> 00:10:56,040 Speaker 5: to get it working. That just seemed to me to 178 00:10:56,080 --> 00:10:58,439 Speaker 5: be the kind of guy he was on the other hand, 179 00:10:58,800 --> 00:11:01,400 Speaker 5: he brutally tortured people. 180 00:11:01,920 --> 00:11:05,480 Speaker 1: John Burge was a Chicago Southsider born in nineteen forty 181 00:11:05,520 --> 00:11:08,920 Speaker 1: seven who grew up in a white enclave called South Deering. 182 00:11:09,440 --> 00:11:13,400 Speaker 3: He grew up in a working class, white neighborhood on 183 00:11:13,440 --> 00:11:18,040 Speaker 3: the South Side of Chicago that, during the late nineteen sixties, 184 00:11:18,120 --> 00:11:21,720 Speaker 3: went from white to black over the course of about 185 00:11:21,800 --> 00:11:25,079 Speaker 3: four years, and his family was among the. 186 00:11:25,080 --> 00:11:30,080 Speaker 5: Last to move out. He then went off to college, 187 00:11:30,120 --> 00:11:35,479 Speaker 5: flunked out after about a semester, went home and enlisted 188 00:11:35,559 --> 00:11:36,840 Speaker 5: in the military. 189 00:11:37,400 --> 00:11:40,440 Speaker 1: Burg served as a military police officer in South Korea 190 00:11:40,480 --> 00:11:43,480 Speaker 1: and Vietnam. For his service, he earned the Bronze Star 191 00:11:43,640 --> 00:11:47,160 Speaker 1: Medal and Purple Heart. After he returned to Chicago, Burge 192 00:11:47,280 --> 00:11:49,800 Speaker 1: joined the police force and racked up more than a 193 00:11:49,880 --> 00:11:51,319 Speaker 1: dozen commendations. 194 00:11:51,679 --> 00:11:57,320 Speaker 5: Everyone wants torturers to be Hannibal elector or somebody like 195 00:11:57,360 --> 00:12:01,080 Speaker 5: that out of sounds of the lamps. Everyone tortures to 196 00:12:01,120 --> 00:12:04,959 Speaker 5: be monsters, and they're basically normal people like you and me. 197 00:12:05,440 --> 00:12:09,880 Speaker 5: Burnch for instance, once saved the woman, an African American woman, 198 00:12:09,920 --> 00:12:13,800 Speaker 5: from committing suicide. She had a gun to her throat, 199 00:12:14,080 --> 00:12:17,080 Speaker 5: She pulled the trigger and he got his thumb in 200 00:12:17,160 --> 00:12:19,280 Speaker 5: the firing mechanism and it didn't go off. 201 00:12:19,679 --> 00:12:23,800 Speaker 1: But his apparent heroism wasn't the full story, because John 202 00:12:23,880 --> 00:12:27,199 Speaker 1: Burge and his underlings ended up being accused of extracting 203 00:12:27,240 --> 00:12:31,640 Speaker 1: confessions from more than two hundred black men between nineteen 204 00:12:31,679 --> 00:12:34,760 Speaker 1: seventy two and nineteen ninety one using torture. 205 00:12:35,520 --> 00:12:39,320 Speaker 5: You know, in Chicago, the cops were under tremendous pressure 206 00:12:39,440 --> 00:12:43,959 Speaker 5: because we had an astronomical homicide People talk about homicides 207 00:12:43,960 --> 00:12:49,080 Speaker 5: in Chicago now, they were eighty percent higher in the 208 00:12:49,200 --> 00:12:54,400 Speaker 5: early nineties, and so you know, they had to soft crimes. 209 00:12:54,440 --> 00:12:58,440 Speaker 5: They were getting information. That's another reason why people do it. 210 00:12:58,480 --> 00:13:02,280 Speaker 5: They actually might think that they're helping out the good 211 00:13:02,320 --> 00:13:07,360 Speaker 5: people of the community by torturing the bad ones. You 212 00:13:07,440 --> 00:13:10,560 Speaker 5: do get information when you torture people, you just don't 213 00:13:10,600 --> 00:13:14,400 Speaker 5: get accurate information. People will say anything to stop the torture. 214 00:13:14,960 --> 00:13:17,920 Speaker 1: Accusations against the Midnight Crew started emerging. Just a few 215 00:13:17,960 --> 00:13:21,760 Speaker 1: months before Ronald Kitchen was convicted. In January nineteen ninety, 216 00:13:21,880 --> 00:13:25,360 Speaker 1: John Conroy published an investigative report in The Chicago Reader 217 00:13:25,840 --> 00:13:27,600 Speaker 1: entitled House of Screams. 218 00:13:28,000 --> 00:13:30,040 Speaker 5: The bird story came to me because I was writing 219 00:13:30,040 --> 00:13:34,200 Speaker 5: a book on torture, but not torturers, and countries that 220 00:13:34,280 --> 00:13:38,600 Speaker 5: people normally suspected of torture, and democracies. And then a 221 00:13:38,600 --> 00:13:40,360 Speaker 5: friend of mine called me and said, there's this guy 222 00:13:40,440 --> 00:13:43,400 Speaker 5: named Andrew Wilson. He claims he was given electric shock 223 00:13:43,520 --> 00:13:48,280 Speaker 5: by the Chicago police, and his testimony was just so 224 00:13:48,440 --> 00:13:53,320 Speaker 5: compelling the police could not explain away his injuries. 225 00:13:53,720 --> 00:13:55,960 Speaker 1: Andrew Wilson was a suspect in the murder of two 226 00:13:56,040 --> 00:13:59,040 Speaker 1: Chicago cops. A house of screams told the story of 227 00:13:59,040 --> 00:14:02,160 Speaker 1: what happened to him in police custody. The rumor was 228 00:14:02,200 --> 00:14:06,000 Speaker 1: that during Wilson's interrogation, Burge and his men used techniques 229 00:14:06,080 --> 00:14:10,000 Speaker 1: that Burge learned as a military police officer back in Vietnam. 230 00:14:10,320 --> 00:14:13,480 Speaker 5: Andrew Wilson emerged from the police station with these very 231 00:14:13,520 --> 00:14:16,360 Speaker 5: peculiar marks on his ears and his nose in the 232 00:14:16,400 --> 00:14:20,120 Speaker 5: shape of alligator clips. They were scabs, and he had 233 00:14:20,160 --> 00:14:23,080 Speaker 5: parallel burns on his chest and a big burn on 234 00:14:23,160 --> 00:14:26,120 Speaker 5: his thigh. He said he'd been held against a hot 235 00:14:26,200 --> 00:14:30,120 Speaker 5: radiator while electric shock was administered by a hand crank 236 00:14:30,240 --> 00:14:34,360 Speaker 5: device not dissimilar from a field telephone used in Vietnam. 237 00:14:35,040 --> 00:14:38,320 Speaker 5: And because he'd shot dead two caps, nobody wanted to 238 00:14:38,360 --> 00:14:38,920 Speaker 5: believe him. 239 00:14:39,360 --> 00:14:43,600 Speaker 2: Nobody's going to have any sympathy for cop killers, and 240 00:14:43,680 --> 00:14:46,720 Speaker 2: Burge and his Midnight crew knew that they would be 241 00:14:46,760 --> 00:14:50,520 Speaker 2: more likely to get away with torturing a cop killer 242 00:14:50,560 --> 00:14:51,560 Speaker 2: than anybody else. 243 00:14:54,760 --> 00:14:59,640 Speaker 5: You know, frankly, when we get in an uproar about torture, 244 00:15:00,120 --> 00:15:03,680 Speaker 5: it's over the torture of people we like, somebody like 245 00:15:03,920 --> 00:15:09,240 Speaker 5: say Nelson Mandela, and we are outraged. But if you 246 00:15:09,680 --> 00:15:13,120 Speaker 5: torture somebody whom we don't like, oh that's no problem 247 00:15:13,160 --> 00:15:16,600 Speaker 5: at all. So, you know, I think the true test 248 00:15:16,640 --> 00:15:19,720 Speaker 5: of a society is can you stand up and defend 249 00:15:19,760 --> 00:15:21,720 Speaker 5: the rights of people whom you abhor. 250 00:15:26,560 --> 00:15:30,640 Speaker 1: During Andrew Wilson's trial, his attorneys started receiving letters in 251 00:15:30,720 --> 00:15:36,440 Speaker 1: Chicago police envelopes from an inside whistleblower. The department's torture problem, 252 00:15:36,440 --> 00:15:39,280 Speaker 1: it seemed, went much further than Andrew Wilson. 253 00:15:39,760 --> 00:15:44,280 Speaker 5: The letters provided a roadmap for anybody who wanted to investigate, 254 00:15:44,360 --> 00:15:47,880 Speaker 5: because they listed the people who went along with the torture, 255 00:15:47,960 --> 00:15:52,640 Speaker 5: and then it listed also the weak links, people who 256 00:15:52,680 --> 00:15:56,560 Speaker 5: didn't like Birch. They wouldn't be asked to participate in 257 00:15:56,600 --> 00:16:01,280 Speaker 5: the torture, but they would have been around a police 258 00:16:01,280 --> 00:16:02,640 Speaker 5: station would have known about it. 259 00:16:03,200 --> 00:16:06,960 Speaker 1: After Conroy's story about Andrew Wilson ran an avalanche of 260 00:16:07,000 --> 00:16:10,320 Speaker 1: other allegations came forward. There were men who had plastic 261 00:16:10,400 --> 00:16:13,560 Speaker 1: bags put over their heads, men who were waterboarded with 262 00:16:13,640 --> 00:16:17,760 Speaker 1: seven up, men who'd had their testicles stood on during interrogation. 263 00:16:18,560 --> 00:16:22,120 Speaker 1: All black men tortured by all white cops. 264 00:16:22,560 --> 00:16:24,680 Speaker 5: Of course, I think race was a factor in all 265 00:16:24,720 --> 00:16:28,440 Speaker 5: of this. A lot of the abuse that was inflicted 266 00:16:28,800 --> 00:16:32,040 Speaker 5: was not just physical, but it was saw verbal, and 267 00:16:32,080 --> 00:16:34,240 Speaker 5: it was regular use of the N word. 268 00:16:34,720 --> 00:16:37,680 Speaker 1: The stories were horribly similar, and the evidence was there 269 00:16:37,720 --> 00:16:41,520 Speaker 1: from the beginning. One torture victim, Aaron Patterson, managed to 270 00:16:41,600 --> 00:16:44,560 Speaker 1: leave a visible cry for help in the interrogation room. 271 00:16:44,920 --> 00:16:48,320 Speaker 2: I just picture this. This guy is being tortured and 272 00:16:48,360 --> 00:16:51,680 Speaker 2: he's scratching this message in a metal bench with a 273 00:16:51,760 --> 00:16:56,360 Speaker 2: paper clip, and the message couldn't be clearer. Please threaten 274 00:16:56,480 --> 00:17:00,840 Speaker 2: me with violence, slapped and suffocated me with plastics. No 275 00:17:01,040 --> 00:17:06,439 Speaker 2: lawyer or dad signed false statement to murder. Why did 276 00:17:06,480 --> 00:17:09,200 Speaker 2: he do this? He did it because he was afraid 277 00:17:09,280 --> 00:17:12,399 Speaker 2: he wouldn't survive the torture, and that even if he 278 00:17:12,520 --> 00:17:16,760 Speaker 2: did survive, he was afraid that no one would believe him. 279 00:17:17,080 --> 00:17:20,000 Speaker 1: Aaron did survive, and one of the other survivors was 280 00:17:20,080 --> 00:17:20,960 Speaker 1: Ronald Kitchen. 281 00:17:21,400 --> 00:17:24,919 Speaker 2: Ronald later realized that the second officer who participated in 282 00:17:24,960 --> 00:17:28,200 Speaker 2: his interrogation, the one who took off his name tag 283 00:17:28,400 --> 00:17:32,159 Speaker 2: before beating him, well, that was no ordinary member of 284 00:17:32,200 --> 00:17:35,959 Speaker 2: the Midnight Crew. That was John Burge himself. 285 00:17:37,720 --> 00:17:41,080 Speaker 1: By the time John Conroy published House of Screams, John 286 00:17:41,119 --> 00:17:44,000 Speaker 1: Burge and the Midnight Crews torture campaign had been going 287 00:17:44,040 --> 00:17:48,159 Speaker 1: on for nearly twenty years. Meanwhile, Burge had been promoted 288 00:17:48,200 --> 00:17:51,920 Speaker 1: to commander, outranking ninety nine percent of the other officers 289 00:17:51,960 --> 00:17:53,280 Speaker 1: on the Chicago Police force. 290 00:17:53,920 --> 00:17:57,640 Speaker 5: So my article came out in January nineteen ninety. As 291 00:17:57,760 --> 00:18:03,119 Speaker 5: we were approaching press time, I was really uneasy. I thought, 292 00:18:03,359 --> 00:18:06,439 Speaker 5: Oh Jesus, you know we're going to go with a 293 00:18:06,480 --> 00:18:10,640 Speaker 5: story that says that the Chicago police engaged in torture. 294 00:18:11,400 --> 00:18:15,320 Speaker 5: Nobody had said anything of the kind before. I thought 295 00:18:15,520 --> 00:18:18,920 Speaker 5: there would be a furre and we might ensue, even 296 00:18:18,960 --> 00:18:21,800 Speaker 5: though we had done every legal check that could be done. 297 00:18:22,200 --> 00:18:25,400 Speaker 1: Burge was a powerful man, but the allegations against him 298 00:18:25,400 --> 00:18:29,159 Speaker 1: were too numerous and too similar to ignore. In nineteen 299 00:18:29,200 --> 00:18:32,920 Speaker 1: ninety one, John Burge was suspended from the Chicago Police force. 300 00:18:33,320 --> 00:18:36,679 Speaker 1: The local police union rushed to Burges's defense, throwing him 301 00:18:36,720 --> 00:18:38,440 Speaker 1: a fundraiser at a union hall. 302 00:18:39,000 --> 00:18:42,560 Speaker 5: I was there. It was packed with more than a 303 00:18:42,640 --> 00:18:46,920 Speaker 5: thousand people, probably most of them cops, but I'm sure 304 00:18:46,960 --> 00:18:50,000 Speaker 5: some of them were states attorneys, because I know that 305 00:18:50,080 --> 00:18:52,640 Speaker 5: it was advertised in the State's Attorney's office. 306 00:18:52,840 --> 00:18:57,399 Speaker 1: Meanwhile, more and more allegations of police torture were coming forward, beatings, 307 00:18:57,520 --> 00:19:01,679 Speaker 1: cattle prods, Russian roulette, Coggo. Police board held a hearing 308 00:19:01,760 --> 00:19:04,480 Speaker 1: in nineteen ninety two into Burges's alleged misconduct. 309 00:19:04,880 --> 00:19:08,199 Speaker 5: Basically, it was an employment fitness hearing. It was not 310 00:19:08,280 --> 00:19:13,439 Speaker 5: a criminal case, and the city had attorneys present the 311 00:19:13,480 --> 00:19:17,200 Speaker 5: case against Birch and they did a pretty darn good job. 312 00:19:17,280 --> 00:19:21,240 Speaker 5: I thought they actually sold the police Board on the 313 00:19:21,280 --> 00:19:24,000 Speaker 5: idea that something had indeed happened here. 314 00:19:24,520 --> 00:19:27,520 Speaker 1: During the hearing, an internal police report came to light. 315 00:19:28,240 --> 00:19:31,840 Speaker 1: It suggested that police supervisors had known about the midnight 316 00:19:31,920 --> 00:19:36,800 Speaker 1: cruise systemic brutality for years. In nineteen ninety three, the 317 00:19:36,840 --> 00:19:40,640 Speaker 1: police board found that John Burge had participated in physical 318 00:19:40,680 --> 00:19:44,360 Speaker 1: abuse and fired him from the Chicago Police now. 319 00:19:44,400 --> 00:19:48,360 Speaker 5: The Police Board's decision was remarkable in that it never 320 00:19:48,480 --> 00:19:52,160 Speaker 5: used the word torture. It said, John Birge did kick 321 00:19:52,200 --> 00:19:55,200 Speaker 5: and or punch and or deny medical attention to and 322 00:19:55,560 --> 00:19:59,000 Speaker 5: or and or and or you couldn't tell, Oh, what 323 00:19:59,080 --> 00:20:03,080 Speaker 5: exactly do you think happened? So as a result of 324 00:20:03,080 --> 00:20:06,119 Speaker 5: that decision, Burgs got fired, but he was allowed to 325 00:20:06,160 --> 00:20:07,400 Speaker 5: retire with his pension. 326 00:20:07,880 --> 00:20:11,720 Speaker 1: Another agency, the Office of Professional Standards, began investigating too, 327 00:20:12,200 --> 00:20:14,679 Speaker 1: and it released a report that went a step further. 328 00:20:15,080 --> 00:20:18,560 Speaker 1: The investigation found that Chicago police had taken part in 329 00:20:18,600 --> 00:20:24,280 Speaker 1: a systematic, planned torture campaign that command officers knew about. Meanwhile, 330 00:20:24,359 --> 00:20:27,280 Speaker 1: Ronald Kitchen, one of the victims of that torture, was 331 00:20:27,359 --> 00:20:29,919 Speaker 1: still on death row for a crime he didn't commit. 332 00:20:30,400 --> 00:20:33,080 Speaker 1: And remember, he was there along with other men who'd 333 00:20:33,080 --> 00:20:35,919 Speaker 1: been tortured just like him by John Burge and the 334 00:20:35,920 --> 00:20:40,040 Speaker 1: Midnight Crew. For years, Ronald's appeals failed, and the system 335 00:20:40,080 --> 00:20:42,840 Speaker 1: turned a blind eye to the unthinkable abuse he suffered. 336 00:20:43,320 --> 00:20:46,440 Speaker 1: But Ronald and the others on death row didn't stay silent. 337 00:20:46,920 --> 00:20:50,480 Speaker 1: The group began finding their voices, speaking out about the 338 00:20:50,480 --> 00:20:53,680 Speaker 1: fact that the Midnight Crew had tortured innocent people. Into 339 00:20:53,720 --> 00:20:54,600 Speaker 1: falsely confessing. 340 00:20:55,200 --> 00:20:59,119 Speaker 2: What's amazing to me is how these men found their voice. 341 00:20:59,720 --> 00:21:04,480 Speaker 2: They did so by re enacting each other's trials. You 342 00:21:04,560 --> 00:21:08,120 Speaker 2: have to remember that when people are in prison, every 343 00:21:08,320 --> 00:21:11,919 Speaker 2: instinct tells you not to talk to other inmates about 344 00:21:11,960 --> 00:21:16,240 Speaker 2: your case. But these men, they acted out their case. 345 00:21:16,320 --> 00:21:20,600 Speaker 2: They played the role of prosecutor of defense, attorney, of 346 00:21:20,840 --> 00:21:25,959 Speaker 2: police witness, and in some cases they convicted one another. 347 00:21:27,200 --> 00:21:30,960 Speaker 2: That process gave them agency, and at the end of 348 00:21:31,000 --> 00:21:35,919 Speaker 2: the day, all of these men became great storytellers. They 349 00:21:35,920 --> 00:21:38,399 Speaker 2: could not only tell the story of what happened to 350 00:21:38,520 --> 00:21:41,960 Speaker 2: each of them, but they could tell the stories of 351 00:21:42,040 --> 00:21:42,560 Speaker 2: each other. 352 00:21:44,560 --> 00:21:48,200 Speaker 1: As the Midnight Crew torture scandal blew up, Ronald's personal 353 00:21:48,280 --> 00:21:51,560 Speaker 1: fight for justice became unignorable. In two thousand and one, 354 00:21:51,760 --> 00:21:54,640 Speaker 1: Ronald got a new team of post conviction lawyers. They 355 00:21:54,680 --> 00:21:58,800 Speaker 1: discovered previously undisclosed evidence about that prison sniche who claimed 356 00:21:58,840 --> 00:22:02,399 Speaker 1: Ronald had confessed. Turns out the snitch had received money 357 00:22:02,600 --> 00:22:06,399 Speaker 1: an early release from prison in exchange for his false testimony. 358 00:22:07,000 --> 00:22:10,880 Speaker 1: That evidence, plus the discovery of the Midnight Crew torture scandal, 359 00:22:11,320 --> 00:22:15,040 Speaker 1: led prosecutors to agree that Ronald's conviction should be thrown out. 360 00:22:15,520 --> 00:22:18,720 Speaker 1: On July seventh, two thousand and nine, Ronald Kitchen became 361 00:22:18,760 --> 00:22:22,560 Speaker 1: a free, exonerated man. Six weeks later, he was awarded 362 00:22:22,600 --> 00:22:37,919 Speaker 1: a certificate of innocence. Those forty five minutes that Ronald 363 00:22:38,000 --> 00:22:40,919 Speaker 1: had expected to be gone they turned into twenty one 364 00:22:41,119 --> 00:22:45,680 Speaker 1: years behind bars. The Gage part killings have never been solved. 365 00:22:46,280 --> 00:22:48,440 Speaker 1: As for the other men on death row with Ronald, 366 00:22:48,800 --> 00:22:52,200 Speaker 1: over the years, several of them walked free, to those 367 00:22:52,240 --> 00:22:55,360 Speaker 1: who remained in prison had their sentences commuted to life, 368 00:22:55,520 --> 00:22:58,640 Speaker 1: and their continuing to fight their cases. And what about 369 00:22:58,680 --> 00:23:01,560 Speaker 1: John Birge. Well, as we told you, he got kicked 370 00:23:01,600 --> 00:23:04,840 Speaker 1: off the Chicago Police Force. But neither John Burge nor 371 00:23:05,040 --> 00:23:07,920 Speaker 1: any member of the Midnight Crew was ever charged with 372 00:23:08,320 --> 00:23:11,919 Speaker 1: or convicted of any act of torture because the statute 373 00:23:11,920 --> 00:23:14,600 Speaker 1: of limitations had passed by the time the truth came 374 00:23:14,640 --> 00:23:17,399 Speaker 1: to light. Maybe we can find some small measure of 375 00:23:17,560 --> 00:23:20,159 Speaker 1: justice though, in the fact that John Birge did go 376 00:23:20,240 --> 00:23:25,320 Speaker 1: to prison for lying about torture. In twenty ten, Burge 377 00:23:25,359 --> 00:23:28,720 Speaker 1: was sued by someone he'd tortured. During the lawsuit, Burge 378 00:23:28,720 --> 00:23:32,080 Speaker 1: gave a sworn statement denying that any abuse had occurred 379 00:23:32,080 --> 00:23:36,240 Speaker 1: on his watch. That falsehood was enough to convict Burge 380 00:23:36,240 --> 00:23:40,520 Speaker 1: of perjury. John Burge served from twenty eleven to twenty 381 00:23:40,600 --> 00:23:43,880 Speaker 1: fourteen in federal prison, a much shorter length of time 382 00:23:43,960 --> 00:23:47,119 Speaker 1: than many of his victims spent behind bars. After he 383 00:23:47,240 --> 00:23:51,000 Speaker 1: left prison, Burge gave an interview calling the torture victim's 384 00:23:51,160 --> 00:23:55,160 Speaker 1: human vermin. He took up residence in Florida, still collecting 385 00:23:55,160 --> 00:23:59,080 Speaker 1: his police pension four thousand dollars a month. He even 386 00:23:59,160 --> 00:24:01,159 Speaker 1: drove a boat called Vigilante. 387 00:24:01,560 --> 00:24:04,040 Speaker 5: Well, no justice was not served in this case. I 388 00:24:04,040 --> 00:24:06,080 Speaker 5: mean he was sentenced to four years in prison. He 389 00:24:06,119 --> 00:24:11,160 Speaker 5: didn't serve that long. Birge was convicted thirty seven years 390 00:24:11,400 --> 00:24:15,080 Speaker 5: after the first time. We know that he used electric shock. 391 00:24:15,840 --> 00:24:18,640 Speaker 2: You know, at the end of the day, John Burge 392 00:24:18,680 --> 00:24:21,959 Speaker 2: was released after only serving a few years in prison, 393 00:24:22,359 --> 00:24:25,639 Speaker 2: while Ronald and the other men on death row spent 394 00:24:25,920 --> 00:24:29,520 Speaker 2: decades in some of the harshest prisons in Illinois system. 395 00:24:30,080 --> 00:24:31,440 Speaker 2: That's not justice. 396 00:24:31,880 --> 00:24:35,120 Speaker 1: In twenty eighteen, John Burge died at his home in Florida. 397 00:24:35,800 --> 00:24:38,880 Speaker 1: After his death, the police union posted a statement on 398 00:24:38,960 --> 00:24:42,199 Speaker 1: Facebook saying that the Fraternal Order of Police does not 399 00:24:42,320 --> 00:24:44,840 Speaker 1: believe the full story about the Birge case has ever 400 00:24:44,880 --> 00:24:49,800 Speaker 1: been told They're probably right. Decades after Burge's reign of terror, 401 00:24:50,080 --> 00:24:53,200 Speaker 1: allegations of torture by the Midnight Crew are still coming 402 00:24:53,240 --> 00:24:55,560 Speaker 1: to light. In two thousand and nine, the State of 403 00:24:55,600 --> 00:24:59,159 Speaker 1: Illinois formed a Torture Inquiry and Relief Commission to review 404 00:24:59,240 --> 00:25:03,399 Speaker 1: and respond to these allegations. Meanwhile, lawsuits upon lawsuits have 405 00:25:03,440 --> 00:25:06,159 Speaker 1: been filed and are still being filed. So far, the 406 00:25:06,240 --> 00:25:09,560 Speaker 1: Midnight Crew has cost the City of Chicago one hundred 407 00:25:09,680 --> 00:25:14,400 Speaker 1: million dollars in brutality settlements, defense costs, and reparations. 408 00:25:14,800 --> 00:25:19,959 Speaker 2: A reparations ordinance passed by the city Council created a 409 00:25:20,240 --> 00:25:24,520 Speaker 2: fund so that many of these torture survivors, those with 410 00:25:24,640 --> 00:25:29,080 Speaker 2: credible claims of torture, could be compensated for what happened 411 00:25:29,080 --> 00:25:33,480 Speaker 2: to them. It was a recognition and ownership of this 412 00:25:33,640 --> 00:25:36,840 Speaker 2: problem by the City of Chicago, and it's never happened 413 00:25:36,880 --> 00:25:39,200 Speaker 2: before in the United States. 414 00:25:39,560 --> 00:25:43,280 Speaker 1: One lawsuit filed on behalf of fifty torture victims settled 415 00:25:43,320 --> 00:25:46,040 Speaker 1: under the condition that the story of John Burge and 416 00:25:46,160 --> 00:25:50,679 Speaker 1: systemic Chicago police misconduct be included in the Chicago Public 417 00:25:50,760 --> 00:25:55,199 Speaker 1: Schools high school curriculum so that everyone remembers. 418 00:25:55,040 --> 00:25:59,360 Speaker 2: We can never forget the Chicago torture scandal, because if 419 00:25:59,400 --> 00:26:04,280 Speaker 2: you don't remember, then history can repeat itself. We have 420 00:26:04,359 --> 00:26:07,840 Speaker 2: to learn the lessons of history, and the best way 421 00:26:07,840 --> 00:26:11,080 Speaker 2: to do it is to teach young minds about it. 422 00:26:11,480 --> 00:26:14,399 Speaker 1: And that's where you'll find Ronald Kitchen today. He and 423 00:26:14,440 --> 00:26:18,080 Speaker 1: other survivors of the Midnight Crew visit classrooms across Chicago 424 00:26:18,440 --> 00:26:21,359 Speaker 1: where they talk to teenagers about what they endured and 425 00:26:21,440 --> 00:26:24,520 Speaker 1: what they hope can be learned from their ordeals. And 426 00:26:24,560 --> 00:26:27,000 Speaker 1: if you pay attention to the way Chicago's kids react 427 00:26:27,080 --> 00:26:30,919 Speaker 1: to these stories, you'll have hope for the future. They listen, 428 00:26:31,400 --> 00:26:33,600 Speaker 1: They stay to hear the end of the story, even 429 00:26:33,640 --> 00:26:36,159 Speaker 1: after the bell rings. What do you think about all 430 00:26:36,200 --> 00:26:39,800 Speaker 1: the recent social media videos of police brutality? Students ask, 431 00:26:40,480 --> 00:26:44,439 Speaker 1: how can we as young people make a change. For 432 00:26:44,520 --> 00:26:47,479 Speaker 1: his part, Ronald Kitchen has no quick answers, but he 433 00:26:47,520 --> 00:26:50,320 Speaker 1: does have a quick sense of justice. As he told 434 00:26:50,359 --> 00:26:53,399 Speaker 1: students at one Chicago high school, there's no gray area 435 00:26:53,640 --> 00:26:55,960 Speaker 1: in torture. You need to see it for what it 436 00:26:56,040 --> 00:27:06,880 Speaker 1: really is. It's black and it's white. Hello, Hey, Ronald, Hey, 437 00:27:06,880 --> 00:27:09,520 Speaker 1: how you doing. It's Laura and Steve, how are you doing? 438 00:27:09,960 --> 00:27:10,920 Speaker 2: I'm good. 439 00:27:12,119 --> 00:27:14,480 Speaker 1: When you visit those schools, what do you hope the 440 00:27:14,520 --> 00:27:16,040 Speaker 1: kids learn from hearing you speak? 441 00:27:16,960 --> 00:27:20,080 Speaker 6: Well, I think the meaning of going to the schools 442 00:27:20,200 --> 00:27:22,920 Speaker 6: is to let them know that this could happen to anybody. 443 00:27:23,520 --> 00:27:27,000 Speaker 6: It's mind boggling because the Boogeyman not just touch me, 444 00:27:27,480 --> 00:27:31,720 Speaker 6: stump me, kick me, tounch me, slap me. The Boogeyman 445 00:27:31,800 --> 00:27:32,960 Speaker 6: did all this to me. 446 00:27:33,160 --> 00:27:37,280 Speaker 1: And then your job became to fight the Boogeyman. Yeah, 447 00:27:37,400 --> 00:27:39,920 Speaker 1: it wasn't just one bad guy. You were finding a 448 00:27:39,960 --> 00:27:42,400 Speaker 1: whole system that let these guys do what they did. 449 00:27:42,440 --> 00:27:43,000 Speaker 1: For so long. 450 00:27:43,480 --> 00:27:44,640 Speaker 6: We was fight that could lad. 451 00:27:44,920 --> 00:27:45,680 Speaker 5: We didn't have a rock. 452 00:27:45,720 --> 00:27:48,680 Speaker 6: We had a penciling paper, and that penston paper came 453 00:27:48,680 --> 00:27:50,480 Speaker 6: out to be stronger than that rock could evidence. 454 00:27:50,440 --> 00:27:54,359 Speaker 2: It's hard for people to understand how you could get 455 00:27:54,760 --> 00:27:59,240 Speaker 2: the space or the time on death row to reenact 456 00:27:59,280 --> 00:27:59,960 Speaker 2: these trials. 457 00:28:00,520 --> 00:28:02,320 Speaker 6: We had a couple of good captains back there. They 458 00:28:02,359 --> 00:28:05,359 Speaker 6: let us have law classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I 459 00:28:05,440 --> 00:28:09,200 Speaker 6: thank them for helping us with the process of gaining 460 00:28:09,200 --> 00:28:09,760 Speaker 6: our freedom. 461 00:28:10,600 --> 00:28:14,600 Speaker 1: You and the other guys they're organized, worked together and 462 00:28:14,640 --> 00:28:18,840 Speaker 1: made a big, big change even though you were locked up. 463 00:28:18,880 --> 00:28:21,639 Speaker 1: You know, do you talk to kids in schools about 464 00:28:21,640 --> 00:28:24,080 Speaker 1: how they should come together and work to make change 465 00:28:24,320 --> 00:28:26,000 Speaker 1: in the same way find their own voices. 466 00:28:26,400 --> 00:28:29,119 Speaker 6: Yeah, that's the whole point of helping them finding voices. 467 00:28:29,160 --> 00:28:30,560 Speaker 2: Your voice is your best weapon. 468 00:28:31,000 --> 00:28:32,760 Speaker 3: If we found our voices. 469 00:28:32,760 --> 00:28:35,040 Speaker 6: In a depth of hell, your voice should be heard 470 00:28:35,080 --> 00:28:35,680 Speaker 6: no matter. 471 00:28:35,440 --> 00:28:35,920 Speaker 5: Where you went. 472 00:28:37,600 --> 00:28:39,680 Speaker 1: What are you enjoying in life these days, Ronald? 473 00:28:40,760 --> 00:28:41,400 Speaker 5: My family? 474 00:28:41,840 --> 00:28:43,840 Speaker 6: I think that's the best, and a don't funny game 475 00:28:43,880 --> 00:28:44,800 Speaker 6: with my little family. 476 00:28:45,440 --> 00:28:47,160 Speaker 2: Did I hear you say you were on your way 477 00:28:47,160 --> 00:28:48,120 Speaker 2: to get a pony? 478 00:28:49,040 --> 00:28:49,280 Speaker 3: Yeah? 479 00:28:49,640 --> 00:28:51,040 Speaker 1: Today is my daughter's birthday. 480 00:28:51,040 --> 00:28:55,640 Speaker 6: She's turning nine and the theme is Cowboy. So uh yeah, 481 00:28:55,640 --> 00:28:56,560 Speaker 6: I'm gonna get the pony. 482 00:28:56,600 --> 00:28:58,360 Speaker 2: Now, that's so nice. 483 00:28:58,480 --> 00:29:02,760 Speaker 6: I'm trying to get this she buggers. 484 00:29:06,840 --> 00:29:09,360 Speaker 2: When you think of this scandal, you have to think 485 00:29:09,440 --> 00:29:13,920 Speaker 2: about not only Burge and his Midnight crew. You have 486 00:29:14,040 --> 00:29:17,640 Speaker 2: to think about the armies of people who knew about 487 00:29:17,640 --> 00:29:22,680 Speaker 2: it and kept quiet every time somebody was tortured. There 488 00:29:22,680 --> 00:29:25,960 Speaker 2: were police officers in that station who heard the screams, 489 00:29:26,640 --> 00:29:29,400 Speaker 2: and then there were states attorneys who came in and 490 00:29:29,480 --> 00:29:33,440 Speaker 2: had to write out the confessions. There were lawyers who 491 00:29:33,560 --> 00:29:37,400 Speaker 2: heard these stories from their clients and judges who heard 492 00:29:37,440 --> 00:29:38,600 Speaker 2: these stories in court. 493 00:29:38,880 --> 00:29:40,600 Speaker 1: A lot of folks had to know about what was 494 00:29:40,640 --> 00:29:42,000 Speaker 1: going on for so many years. 495 00:29:42,360 --> 00:29:47,160 Speaker 2: Well, this was a case of systemic racism, not just 496 00:29:47,360 --> 00:29:51,560 Speaker 2: of a few bad apples. It was an open secret 497 00:29:52,160 --> 00:29:57,360 Speaker 2: and not so secret open secret, and you know, think 498 00:29:57,400 --> 00:29:59,840 Speaker 2: about what that does to these communities. 499 00:30:00,200 --> 00:30:02,400 Speaker 1: The court system may have turned a blind eye to 500 00:30:02,800 --> 00:30:05,800 Speaker 1: these defendant stories, but they must have told their family 501 00:30:05,840 --> 00:30:09,000 Speaker 1: members and their friends and their neighbors what happened to them. 502 00:30:09,240 --> 00:30:12,520 Speaker 1: And this repeated story of abuse must have leaked out 503 00:30:12,560 --> 00:30:14,840 Speaker 1: and saturated the South Side. 504 00:30:14,920 --> 00:30:20,280 Speaker 2: An open wound that for years was not addressed. 505 00:30:21,640 --> 00:30:25,080 Speaker 1: Injustices. Like the Chicago police torture scandal, are at the 506 00:30:25,160 --> 00:30:28,360 Speaker 1: root of what our country is experiencing right now, a 507 00:30:28,520 --> 00:30:32,600 Speaker 1: national reckoning with race and the criminal justice system. These 508 00:30:32,640 --> 00:30:35,880 Speaker 1: stories need to be told so that we can collectively 509 00:30:35,920 --> 00:30:39,640 Speaker 1: acknowledge the wrongs and start having a real discussion about 510 00:30:39,640 --> 00:30:50,400 Speaker 1: what's right Wrongful Conviction, False Confessions is a production of 511 00:30:50,520 --> 00:30:54,400 Speaker 1: Lava for Good Podcasts in association with Signal Company Number 512 00:30:54,440 --> 00:30:58,520 Speaker 1: one Special thanks to our executive producers Jason Flamm and 513 00:30:58,600 --> 00:31:02,320 Speaker 1: Kevin Wardis. Our production team is headed by senior producer 514 00:31:02,360 --> 00:31:05,920 Speaker 1: and Pope along with producers Joshi Hammer and Jess Shane. 515 00:31:06,240 --> 00:31:09,480 Speaker 1: Our show is mixed by Genie Montalvo. John Colbert is 516 00:31:09,520 --> 00:31:13,240 Speaker 1: our intrepid intern. Our music was composed by Jay Ralph. 517 00:31:13,640 --> 00:31:16,800 Speaker 1: You can follow me on Instagram or Twitter at Laura 518 00:31:16,840 --> 00:31:17,720 Speaker 1: and I Wrider. 519 00:31:17,640 --> 00:31:20,760 Speaker 2: And you can follow me on Twitter at s Drizzen. 520 00:31:21,040 --> 00:31:25,120 Speaker 1: For more information on the show, visit wrongfulconvictionpodcast dot com. 521 00:31:25,520 --> 00:31:28,840 Speaker 1: Be sure to follow the show on Instagram at Wrongful Conviction, 522 00:31:29,440 --> 00:31:33,760 Speaker 1: on Facebook at Wrongful Conviction Podcast, and on Twitter at 523 00:31:33,840 --> 00:31:34,680 Speaker 1: wrong Conviction