The Illinois Prisoner Review Board has recommended that Gov. George Ryan commute the sentences of fewer than 10 Death Row inmates to life in prison, two sources familiar with the board’s recommendations said Tuesday.
The disclosure comes as Ryan wrestles with a decision over how to conclude his high-profile review of the Death Row cases with less than two weeks remaining in his term as governor.
The number of recommendations for commutations was small partly because so many of the Death Row inmates still have multiple appeals pending in the courts and will have another chance to bring up their cases, said the sources, who requested anonymity.
A large portion of these cases have “two or three bites at the apple,” one of the sources said.
Ryan, a Republican who placed a moratorium on executions in Illinois in 2000 because of flaws in the death penalty system, is not bound by the recommendations.
The governor put the moratorium in place after 13 men sent to Death Row were exonerated.
Ryan suggested on Monday that he had not made up his mind on what to do on specific cases or on the larger question of a blanket commutation for all of the 160 inmates on Death Row.
Ryan spent the weekend reviewing the cases of roughly 20 Death Row inmates who did not file formal petitions seeking to have their death sentences converted to life in prison without parole.
An aide to Ryan had no comment Tuesday night.
The names of the individuals and the exact number of inmates recommended for commutation were not available late Tuesday.
But one source said, “There’s no doubt in my mind that it was fewer than 10.”
The inmates can appeal a denial one year from the date when clemency is denied.
The Prisoner Review Board held a string of emotional hearings this fall in the cases where inmates were pressing to be removed from Death Row.
Hundreds of the nation’s law professors have weighed in, saying Ryan would be justified in granting clemency to all Death Row inmates. They cited precedents in other states.
But Cook County State’s Atty. Richard Devine and other members of the Illinois State’s Attorney Association oppose blanket commutations.
Ryan said he plans to notify victims’ family members, likely by letter, before making public his intentions on commuting the sentences of any of the Death Row inmates.
