News & Commentary

Today the Cook County Board unanimously approved a record-setting $17 million dollar settlement to compensate Jackie Wilson for their prosecutors’ role in his torture and 36 years of wrongful incarceration. This is a capstone to the People’s Law Office (PLO) for more than 35 years of struggle against Chicago police torture and cover-up. Unfortunately, the Johnson administration continues to shirk
To read the full interview on Hardcrackers.com click here. On Political Repression: A Hard Crackers Discussion with Michael Deutsch John Garvey and Mike Morgan — March 6, 2024 Michael Deutsch is an experienced human rights attorney in the U.S., perhaps one of the most veteran and well-informed lawyers at that extremely difficult craft in this country.  Michael graciously allowed us at Hard
March 6, 2024 Chicago, IL — Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart illegally banned students Ethan Ostrow and Harley Pomper from Cook County Jail in retaliation for speaking out. Ostrow and Pomper are students at University of Chicago who facilitated creative writing workshops at the jail for two years. In May 2023, they published an Op-Ed arguing that Cook County Jail’s
Yesterday, attorneys from the People’s Law Office joined attorney Ben Crump to introduce new witnesses and evidence to the alleged conspiracy case surrounding Malcolm X’s assassination. Malcolm X was assassinated on February 21, 1965, at age 39 while speaking at the Audubon Ballroom. He was shot a total of 21 times by a group of men in front of his
Wrongfully Convicted Tom Rhodes
On the one-year anniversary of his release from prison, Thomas Rhodes filed a federal civil rights lawsuit in Minneapolis, Minnesota, seeking accountability and compensation for the nearly 25 years he spent wrongfully imprisoned for his wife’s tragic accidental death in 1996. Rhodes, represented by the People’s Law Office in Chicago, and the Law Office of Tim Phillips in Minneapolis, has brought this
Ronnie Carrasquillo, a longtime client of PLO, was recently released after serving 47 years in prison. 65 year old Ronnie emerged from prison having been an inspirational mentor and peace-maker to so many both inside and outside the prison walls since his incarceration when he was 18 years of age. Over the years he had garnered wide-spread support, from his
Today, lawyers from the People’s Law Office in Chicago filed a five-count civil rights complaint on behalf of Danny Wilber, a Black and Indigenous man who was wrongfully convicted of a murder that he did not commit. The complaint names nine individual former Milwaukee police officers and the City of Milwaukee, alleging that the officers, individually and together, framed Mr.
The FOP has, without exception, vociferously opposed every proposed police reform and effort to obtain police transparency. “The FOP is the sworn enemy of Black people,” former Congressman Bobby Rush said while defending Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx from the racist attack of the Fraternal Order of Police in 2019. “The FOP has always taken the position that Black
Until now, no Cook County prosecutor has ever faced charges for prosecutorial misconduct in a wrongful conviction case Misconduct caused Burge torture survivor Jackie Wilson to be wrongfully imprisoned 36 years CHICAGO – A four-decade saga of police rampage, torture, cover-up and perjury reached a new chapter today when two former Cook County Assistant State’s Attorneys were criminally charged for crimes arising

December 21, 2022

Free Bernina Hanukkah Action

On December 19, 2022, over 30 people joined a Hanukkah celebration at Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker’s home in Chicago to demand that he sign the executive clemency petition for Bernina Mata. The #FreeBernina Team and Love & Protect organized the action on the second night of Hanukkah, a celebration of a struggle for liberation, to urge Governor Pritzker to liberate