Protesters raise voices in Chicago Loop after ex-cop Jason Van Dyke, convicted in shooting of Laquan McDonald, leaves prison

CHICAGO — Just after midnight Thursday, as the wind blew whirls of snow around a remote downstate prison, one of Illinois’ highest-profile prisoners walked out of custody under the cover of darkness.

Ex-Chicago police Officer Jason Van Dyke spent a little more than three years behind bars for the 2014 murder of Laquan McDonald, a shooting captured on police video that sent shock waves from neighborhood streets to the mayor’s office at City Hall.

The eyes of the world were on Van Dyke’s trial, almost every moment of which was livestreamed. But his time in prison was cloaked in secrecy to the very end.

For years, prison officials refused to disclose where he was being held. And the details of his departure were not disclosed until more than 12 hours afterward, when a spokesperson for the Illinois Department of Corrections confirmed Van