Signs that things may be bad where you live: if your state’s general assembly ever creates something called a Torture Inquiry and Relief Commission (TIRC). Today, according to human rights lawyer Flint Taylor, former Chicago police commander Jon Burge, 66, walks free on early release from federal prison in North Carolina after having been "convicted of lying about torturing over 100 African-American men at stationhouses on Chicago’s South and West Sides." Note that Burge was convicted in 2010 for perjury–not his deeds. The Illinois general assembly created TIRC in 2009 to deal specifically with Burge, other officers under his command and the claims made by scores of their torture victims. Burge made news earlier this year when the city’s pension board, the Chicago Tribune reports, allowed him to keep his $4000-a-month pension.

In a must-read, Taylor recounts the costs to citizens, taxpayers and of course victims–some of whom remain in prison based on confessions coerced under torture. Taylor writes:

The contrast between the official treatment of the torturers and their victims has spurred activists, torture survivors and lawyers working with the Chicago Torture Justice Memorials Project (CTJM) to campaign for the passage of a city ordinance that would address this appalling discrepancy. Introduced into City Council last October by Aldermen Joe Moreno and Howard Brookins, the "Reparations Ordinance" calls for the establishment of a $20 million fund to compensate torture survivors who have so far received little money or nothing at all.

The 40-year Burge saga is far from over. To learn the backstory, start here at the Chicago Reader.

(h/t In These Times)