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 its responsibility for this horrendous miscarraige of justice by continuing to fund private lawyers, who have already collected tens of millions of dollars, to deny the City of Chicago’s paramount responsibility for Jon Burge and the City’s pattern and practice of torture and cover-up in Jackie and numerous other police torture cases. The PLO and Loevy and Loevy have issued the following statement:
JOINT STATEMENT ON BEHALF OF JACKIE WILSON BY HIS LAWYERS
March 13, 2024
“As the Cook County courts recognized when granting a certificate of innocence, Jackie Wilson was wrongfully convicted of a senseless and horrific crime. During his 36 years of wrongful imprisonment, Jackie suffered unimaginable pain and trauma that few people could ever truly understand. With this settlement, Cook County acknowledges and limits the substantial risk that this litigation poses to taxpayers while also allowing Jackie to move forward with what remains of his life.
Now it is time for the City of Chicago to likewise appreciate the serious exposure it faces in this case and act consistently with the promises of Mayor Johnson and his predecessors who have long acknowledged the serious harm that Jon Burge and other Chicago police torturers have inflicted upon Jackie, other torture survivors, and Chicago’s communities of color.”
THE PEOPLE’S LAW OFFICE and LOEVY AND LOEVY
