The Illinois Prisoner Review Board, whose members are appointed by Gov. J.B. Pritzker, was criticized as too lenient. But those critics now say the board seems to be on a path more to their liking.
Jennifer Soble is the executive director of the Illinois Prison Project and is representing Ronnie Carrasquillo, who has been in prison for more than four decades for the 1976 murder of a Chicago police officer.
in granting parole to older people in prison who’ve been locked up for decades after being convicted of particularly heinous crimes.The criticism was largely aimed at Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker, who appoints board members. The state Senate, even though it is controlled by Democrats, rejected two of Pritzker’s appointees, including one who had twice voted to parole Carrasquillo.
State Sen. Terri Bryant, a Republican from downstate Murphysboro, said the panel “is acting as they should,’' and in fact may be getting “a little too strict.” “I couldn’t care less what any of them said,” said Shelton, a former Champaign police sergeant who has served on the board since 2012. “The members on the board now are thinking more about how their vote is going to be viewed by the General Assembly, and especially by the executive appointment committee, than the merit of the case,” said Crigler, a social worker who was appointed to the board in 2011 by then-Gov. Pat Quinn. “I’ve sat in the room with them and I’ve listened to them deliberate. And they are very, very conservative.
looking at how parole candidates have tried to better themselves and whether they’ll have a stable home environment if granted release.But Christopher Mooney, a professor emeritus of political science at the University of Illinois at Chicago, said the GOP’s “soft on crime” attacks against Pritzker form one of the most powerful arguments that can be made against a politician, and could well play a role in the governor’s thinking when it comes to board appointments.
From January 2022, when the law took effect, until mid-August, the board granted 52 medical releases but denied 94 others, the news outlets reported.Jennifer Soble, executive director of the Illinois Prison Project, which represents parole candidates pro bono, said many older parole-eligible people in prison have been hampered by not having legal representation when they go before the board.
Senate Republicans raised concerns over Mears’ votes in favor of parole for Zelma King, convicted of a 1967 triple murder, and Paula Sims, convicted in 1990 of killing her newborn child after a trial that included evidence indicating she killed another newborn four years earlier. Sims’ lawyer convinced the review board that her poor mental health likely played a role in her actions.James and Wilson took heat for their votes to parole Veal and Hurst.
This past July, 71-year-old Eddie Pitts, convicted in a fatal 1976 stabbing of a Peoples Gas employee, was denied parole in a 10-1 decision after being denied release 5-3 last year. Records show board members in July raised concerns over a fight he got into in 2022 that resulted in another prisoner needing brain surgery. Pitts has dementia, according to the records, and his lawyer argued his actions were in self-defense.
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