Republicans critical of Pritzker’s prisoner review board maneuvering

[March 10, 2022] 

By Greg Bishop | The Center Square

(The Center Square) – Governor appointees to the Illinois Prisoner Review Board have been submitted, withdrawn and submitted again without being in front of a Senate committee for approval.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker Wednesday said the back-and-forth on two appointees to the Illinois Prisoner Review Board is just a technicality.

“Only because they don’t get taken up by the committee that’s supposed to take those up, so we’re at the whim of the Senate,” Pritzker said.

The Prisoner Review Board imposes release conditions for offenders leaving state correctional facilities, revokes and restores good conduct credits for inmates, and conducts hearings with parolees, among other roles.

Tuesday, the Senate Executive Appointments Committee approved various people Pritzker has appointed to numerous other positions. Asked about the status of the two PRB members whose names were withdrawn, state Sen. Laura Murphy, D-Des Plaines, gave an explanation.

“We could not have anticipated the breadth of a pandemic that hit not only this state but the entire country,” Murphy said.

After the hearing, state Sen. Jason Plummer, R-Edwardsville, said that excuse doesn’t cut it with dozens of other people having gone through the process for other positions.

“It’s offensive to the people of Illinois to say that the people who are getting paid $90,000 a year and voting to let violent criminals onto the street can’t appear [before] their representatives because of COVID,” Plummer told The Center Square.

Plummer said Senate Democrats are providing the governor cover. He said that technicality is causing great harm in a lack of oversight for taxpayers and crime victims.

“You go home and you tell people ‘there’s a convicted double murderer serving on the prisoner review board voting to let violent criminals out of prison,’ they look at you like you’ve got three eyes,” Plummer said. “The people of Illinois would be shocked if they knew what was happening in Springfield and this is example 1A and it needs to change.”

Greg Bishop reports on Illinois government and other issues for The Center Square. Bishop has years of award-winning broadcast experience and hosts the WMAY Morning Newsfeed out of Springfield.