More on the Chicago jail beatings and coverup from Chicago Tribune investigative reporters Steve Mills and Maurice Possley today: The Chief Investigator says he sent report to the jail's director, Ernesto Velasco.

The chief investigator of an alleged mass beating of prisoners at Cook County Jail in 1999 says he was pressured to clear guards of wrongdoing, but eventually delivered a report sustaining charges to then-jail executive director Ernesto Velasco, who has said he was unaware of the report.

The account from Charles Holman, a veteran internal affairs investigator at the jail, contradicts the account of Velasco, who told a House committee hearing last week that he never saw Holman's report and did not know the investigation had been completed. ...

He said Velasco came up to him and inquired about the nearly 12-inch-tall stack of documents. Holman said he told the jail director that it was his report of the beating allegations.

"He asked me about the outcome," Holman said. "I said we sustained quite a few charges. I told him out of my own mouth."

Velasco not only denied ever seeing the report, but also speaking to Holman about it. As we wrote earlier, Velasco has been nominated by the Governor of Illinois to head the Illinois Department of Corrections. His nomination is now on hold until more is learned about Velasco's knowledge of and response to the report on these jail beatings.

At least 49 inmates told investigators they were beaten, but the report sustained brutality allegations only against Richard Remus, the head of the SORT unit. In an interview, Remus denied beating anyone. Other SORT officers also denied the brutality claims, according to a spokeswoman for Sheahan. The report sustained violations against nine other officers, including one superintendent, and ruled as "inconclusive" charges against 40 other officers--meaning the charges could neither be proved nor disproved.

We think it's time for a change in Illinois. The Governor should follow the lead of Los Angeles which hired Bill Bratton as Police Chief and select an uncompromised, principled outsider to lead the Department of Corrections.