Gov. George Ryan, already scheduled to make a major address on the death penalty Friday, has added a second speech on Saturday, heightening expectations of capital punishment foes that he will commute some sentences or even pardon some prisoners before he leaves office Monday.
Ryan aides have been reaching out to attorneys and others working on behalf of a handful of Death Row prisoners, asking if the inmates would have a home and a job lined up if they were immediately set free.
That suggests that in addition to commuting death sentences to life in prison without the possibility of parole, the governor may also pardon some prisoners or cut their death sentences to time served.
Ryan, who is speaking at noon Friday at the DePaul University law school, has added a speech at 1 p.m. Saturday at Northwestern University’s law school.
