After 30 years, police torture victim still fighting for rights
30 years have passed since Chicago police officers tortured Darrell Cannon into falsely confessing to taking part in a murder, and he is still fighting the legal battle of his life.
Cannon was brutally shocked in the genitals with an electric cattle prod, beat with a flashlight and “shot” mock-execution style before he was wrongly convicted in 1983 and imprisoned for 24 years. He is one of over 100 African-Americans who fell victim to abuse from the Chicago Police Department under Police Commander Jon Burge, who is now behind bars after being convicted of perjury and obstruction of justice — but is still collecting his $3,000-a-month city pension.
While some of the victims who were wrongly incarcerated as a result of Burge-era police torture have received millions of dollars worth of settlements, others, like Cannon, have not.
Earlier this year, the U.S. Court of Appeals ruled that the $1,247 in compensation he received as part of a 1988 settlement was all the money he would get.
“They told me before they tortured me that I could scream all I want and nobody was going to hear it. And it was true. Nobody heard me and now it is not far-fetched for anybody to think that such things could exist or did exist.” Cannon told HuffPost Live.
We must continue to demand justice for our people.
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