A 50 page report has been released showing massive inmate beatings by prison guards in Chicago in 1999 and an incredible coverup, continuing to this date. From a Chicago Tribune article today by veteran investigative reporters Maurice Possley and Steve Mills:

Four years ago, an elite squad of 40 Cook County Jail guards invaded a maximum-security cellblock for the sole purpose of beating and terrorizing prisoners, then filed false reports to cover it up, according to Cook County sheriff's internal affairs documents, prisoner interviews and sheriff's sources.

On Feb. 24, 1999, in a night inmates still recount with horror, members of the sheriff's Special Operations Response Team (SORT) accompanied by four guard dogs without muzzles ordered 400 prisoners to leave their cells in response to a gang-related stabbing three days earlier.

Moving systematically through four tiers, the guards clad in riot gear ransacked cells, then herded inmates into common areas where they were forced to strip and face the wall with hands behind their head, according to a 50-page report by the sheriff's Internal Affairs Division obtained by the Tribune....

At least 49 inmates told investigators they were beaten, including former Death Row prisoner Leroy Orange, who received a pardon based on innocence last month from former Gov. George Ryan, and Miguel Castillo, who spent 11 years in prison for murder until he was exonerated and freed.

"Everybody who had a tattoo got their ass whipped," Orange said in an interview. "It was scary. The dogs were barking and the guards were just beating the [expletive] out of everybody. I've never seen anything like it."

After the 90-minute sweep, guards denied inmates immediate medical attention, the report found.

The internal affairs report said Remus failed to "enforce humane treatment" by "directing his SORT supervisors and SORT Team Members to administer corporal punishment to detainees." It sustained 29 violations against Remus, including that he beat two inmates. No other officer was individually cited for beating inmates.

The internal affairs investigation sustained violations against nine others-- then-Supt. James Edwards, a lieutenant, two sergeants, and one officer for filing false reports, some to cover up the incident. Four canine officers were cited for bringing dogs into the cells in violation of jail procedures."

Here is a timeline of the beatings. There is a lot more, go read the whole article, it is simply chilling.