Mark Clements

Community Organizer,

Chicago Torture Justice Center

Mark Clements is a community organizer with the Chicago Torture Justice Center and a Chicago police torture survivor. In 1981, at the age of 16, he was taken to an Area 3 violent crimes unit, where he was tortured to confess to a crime.

Mark was one of the first juveniles to be sentenced to natural life without parole in the state of Illinois. He remained incarcerated for 28 years before his conviction was overturned in 2009. Shortly thereafter, in 2009, he was hired as administrator and organizer with the Campaign to End the Death Penalty organization. While sitting on the board of the Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression, he helped organize and establish with the Northwestern Pritzker School of Law, the Illinois Coalition for the Fair Sentencing of Children.

Mark has helped hundreds of incarcerated people win their freedom across the country. In his role with the Chicago Torture Justice Center, he works in complex areas of trauma and attends court hearings in support of other police torture survivors. He has received numerous awards for his work across the country and is one of the authors of the book Tortured by Blue.