Just a little update: Several the Illinois Prison Review Board have said that they were mislead by former Governor George Ryan into thinking he would not grant blanket clemency to all of the state's Death Row inmates. "We were given assurances that he would be going by a case-by-case basis," board member Jorge Montes said. As all of us know, Ryan made history by pardoning four Death Row inmates and commuting the senteces of 167. Sources close to the Board have said that the panel recommended fewer than prisoners be granted clemency and did not recommend any pardons. Ryan's granting clemency to inmates whose guilt was not in doubt also bothered Montes and another board member, James Donahue. "There were slam dunk cases in the bunch," said Montes. "There were some where there was no question about confession, the witnesses." Another board member, Robert Dunne, was particularly surprised that Ryan granted pardons to some of the inmates based on innocense, a conclusion that Ryan came to after his review convinced him that all four men(who he pardoned) made false murder confessions after being tortured by hicago Police Officers. On another note, US Rep. Bobby Rush(a former Black Panther), plans to introduce a bill requesting that Ryan be nominated for the Congressional Gold Medal. What a joke...first Jesse Jackson's recommendation of the Nobel Peace prize for Ryan and now a former Black Panther putting him up for the highest honor Congress can bestow a citizen. If Ryan actually receives these prestigious awards, it will be ironic watching him accept them from his very own federal prison cell.
