Jon Burge

Jon Graham Burge (December 20, 1947 – September 19, 2018) was an American police detective and commander in the Chicago Police Department.

He was found guilty of having "directly participated in or implicitly approved the torture" of at least 118 people in police custody in order to force false confessions.

A United States Army veteran, Burge had served tours in South Korea and Vietnam.

When he returned to the South Side of Chicago, he began a career as a city police officer, ending it as a commander.

He returned to Chicago to work as a stock clerk in the Jewel supermarket chain in 1966.

In June 1966, Burge enlisted in the army reserve and began six years of service, including two years of active duty.

He spent eight weeks at a military police (MP) school in Georgia.

He received some training at Fort Benning, Georgia, where he learned interrogation techniques.

He volunteered for a tour of duty in the Vietnam War, but instead was assigned as an MP trainer.

He served as an MP in South Korea, gathering five letters of appreciation from superiors.

On June 18, 1968, Burge volunteered for duty in Vietnam a second time, and was assigned to the Ninth Military Police Company of the Ninth Infantry Division.

He reported to division headquarters, where he was assigned to provide security as a sergeant at his division base camp, which was named Đồng Tâm by William Westmoreland.

Burge described his military police service as time spent escorting convoys, providing security for forward support bases, supervising security for the divisional central base camp in Đồng Tâm, and serving a tour as a provost marshal investigator.

During his military service, Burge earned a Bronze Star, a Purple Heart, the Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry and two Army Commendation Medals for valor, for pulling wounded men to safety while under fire.

Burge claimed to have no knowledge of or involvement in prisoner interrogation, brutality or torture in Vietnam.

Burge was honorably discharged from the Army on August 25, 1969, aged 21.

Burge became a police officer in March 1970 at age 22 on the South Side of Chicago.

In 20 years of service, he earned 13 commendations and a letter of praise from the Department of Justice.

In May 1972, he was promoted to detective and assigned to Area 2 (Pullman Area) Robbery.

According to The Guardian, between 1972 and 1991, Burge "either directly participated in or implicitly approved the torture" of at least 118 people in police custody.

Federal prosecutors stated that Burge's use of torture began in 1972.

Burge was the leader of a group of police officers known variously as the "Midnight Crew", "Burge's Ass-Kickers", or the "A-Team", who abused suspects to coerce confessions.

Federal prosecutors stated that the "Midnight Crew" used methods of torture including beating, suffocation, burning, and electrical shock to the genitals, among other methods.

From 1981 to 1986, he served as the commander of the Area 2 Violent crimes Unit until he was promoted to commander of the Bomb and Arson Unit in 1986.

Following the shooting of several Chicago law enforcement officers in 1982, the police obtained confessions that contributed to convictions of two people.

The most prominent events related to his abuses occurred in winter 1982.

In 1988, Burge became Area 3 (Brighton Park) detective commander.

One filed a civil suit in 1989 against Burge, other officers, and the city, for police torture and cover-up; Burge was acquitted in 1989 because of a hung jury.

He was suspended from the Chicago Police Department in 1991 and fired in 1993.

In 2002, a four-year review revealed numerous indictable crimes and other improprieties, but no indictments were made against Burge or his officers, as the statute of limitations for the crimes had expired.

In 2003, Governor George Ryan pardoned four of Burge's victims who were on death row and whose convictions were based on coerced confessions.

In 2008, Patrick Fitzgerald, United States Attorney for Northern Illinois, charged Burge with obstruction of justice and perjury in relation to testimony in a 2003 civil suit against him for damages for alleged torture.

Burge was convicted on all counts on June 28, 2010, and sentenced to four and a half years in federal prison on January 21, 2011.

He was released on October 3, 2014.

Raised in the community area of South Deering on the Southeast Side of Chicago, Burge was the younger son of Floyd and Ethel Ruth ( Corriher) Burge.

Of Norwegian descent, Floyd was a blue collar worker for a phone company while Ethel was a consultant and fashion writer for the

Chicago Daily News.

Burge attended Luella Elementary School and Bowen High School where he showed interest in the school's Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps (JROTC).

There he was exposed to military drill, weapons, leadership and military history.

He attended the University of Missouri but dropped out after one semester, which ended his draft deferment.