Chicago to pay $5.5m in compensation to victims tortured by city's police

Payments relate to notorious period in force's history

John Burge was was fired from the force and later convicted of lying about police torture

Chicago will pay up to $5.5m in compensation to dozens of people who were tortured by the city’s police force during the 1970s and 1980s.

On Wednesday, the city council approved legislation that will also provide trauma counselling and help with job training to the victims.

“We are strong enough to say we were wrong,” Mayor Rahm Emanuel said after the vote, according to Reuters. “Chicago will finally confront its past and come to terms with it.”

Chicago and Cook County already have paid around $100m in settlements related to former Chicago police Commander Jon Burge, who was fired in 1993 and later convicted of lying about police torture. He was released from jail in October 2014.

“Chicago has taken a historic step to show the country, and the world, that there should be no expiration date on reparations for crimes as heinous as torture,” Steven Hawkins, executive director of Amnesty International USA, said in a statement.

Mr Hawkins said the compensation will help set a precedent for holding torturers accountable in Chicago and elsewhere in the United States.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel has said Chicago is 'big enough' to admit its errors (Reuters)

The reparations package was developed with representatives of Mr Burge's victims, Amnesty International and the city.

It has been alleged that up to 120 people were tortured by Mr Burge and his fellow officers. Some of them have died. Those who have already received compensation will not get any of the new money.

Chicago has long struggled to build trust between police and minority communities. The news of the reparations comes at a time of increased scrutiny of the way police use force against some suspects in the US.