An Illinois man who maintained for years that members of the Chicago police department physically forced him to admit to a rape he didn't commit was released from prison on Wednesday.

59-year-old Stanley Wrice spent 30 years in the Pontiac Correctional Center before he walked free this week, the Associated Press reported.

"It's just an overwhelming feeling of joy, happiness that finally, it's over with," Wrice told AP after embracing his two daughters.

Cook County Judge Richard Walsh reversed Wrice's 1982 rape conviction the day before, after he said that police officers hadn't been honest about their dealings with the Chicago native.

Wrice contended for decades that police officers beat him in the face and crotch until he admitted to sexually assaulting a woman. In court on Tuesday, Wrice said that two ex-law enforcement officials used a flashlight and a 20-inch piece of rubber to beat the "confession" out of him.

He received a 100-year prison sentencing for the crime, according to the Associated Press.

Wrice is just one of a handful of men in the past few years whose prison sentences have been overturned after they were physically forced into confessing to crimes they may have not committed. Chicago police officers working under former Lt. Jon Burge have been accused of torturing suspected criminals into fessing up.

Burge was indicted three years ago after he reportedly lied in a civil suit. He said he hadn't seen or joined in with the torture of suspects, AP reported. He is currently in a federal prison, where he's serving 4 and-a-half years for perjury and obstruction of justice.