Prisoner Review Board releases final Illinoisan serving life sentence
for ‘three-strikes’ drug offense
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[December 22, 2023]
By BETH HUNDSDORFER
Capitol News Illinois
bhundsdorfer@capitolnewsillinois.com
For at least two hours of the ride home, Charles Collins feared someone
was following his father’s car, looking to take him back to prison for
the rest of his life.
At an interstate rest stop between Western Illinois Correctional Center
and Chicago, Collins said the reality of his freedom settled in and he
let go of the anxiety. He would be with his family for Christmas for the
first time in 14 years.
“It’s going to be a party, that’s for sure,” he said during an interview
on Monday.
Collins, 49, was sentenced to life in prison without parole in relation
to a 2010 charge for cocaine possession with intent to sell. It was his
third felony, making him eligible for an enhanced sentence under the
state’s habitual criminal, or “three-strikes,” law. He had two prior
felonies on drug trafficking charges from 1998 to 2007 that made him
eligible for the enhanced sentence. The judge told him she had no
choice, he recalled, before she sentenced him to life without the
possibility of parole.
“For a minute, it didn’t sink in. I was shocked that the judge went
through with it,” Collins said.
The three-strikes law allows that if a defendant is convicted more than
three times of the same or similar offenses, the judge can aggravate the
crime to one that is eligible for a life sentence. The law was designed
to combat recidivism, but advocates argue it was draconian and unfairly
targeted minority defendants.
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Jennifer Soble, the executive director for the Illinois Prison Project,
an advocacy group for incarcerated people, noted in 2020 that 75 percent
of people serving life sentences in Illinois were African American and
94 percent of people serving life sentences in Illinois for a third
strike for armed robbery or drugs were African American or Latino.
Collins was the last man serving life in the Illinois Department of
Corrections under the three-strikes law for drug offenses, Illinois
Prison Project legal director Candice Chambliss said.
Earlier this year, Gov. JB Pritzker commuted the life sentence for the
three people who were doing life without parole for drugs under the
three-strikes law. One of those offenders, Michael Lightfoot, 67,
received clemency and was released from Danville Correctional Center
last month.
Pritzker commuted Collins’ sentence in February 2023 from life without
the possibility of parole to parole eligible. In a rare move, the
Illinois Prisoner Review Board voted unanimously last week for Collins’
release.
The Illinois Prison Project took up the cause of three-strikers in 2020,
providing legal representation for incarcerated individuals. It
currently has 74 pending cases for inmates serving three-strikes
sentences for non-drug offenses. To date, 27 people have been released
through commutation, parole, or medical release, according to Chambliss.
Thirty-three others have been denied, and six people died before the
governor issued a decision.
The scope of the three-strikes law has been narrowed over the years –
including as part of the criminal justice reform known as the Safety,
Accountability, Fairness and Equity-Today, or SAFE-T Act – but the
statute remains on the books in Illinois. While one lawmaker proposed a
measure in the spring session that would have fully repealed it, the
legislation failed to gain support in the General Assembly and did not
receive a vote in committee.
“Gov. Pritzker is a lifelong advocate for criminal justice reform and
signed legislation making our criminal justice system more equitable,”
Pritzker Spokesperson Jordan Abudayyeh said in a statement. “The SAFE-T
Act reformed the habitual offender law to ensure it is used only in the
most serious circumstances.”
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![](../images/122223PIX/news_e8.jpg)
In a selfie shared with Capitol News Illinois, Charles Collins
prepares for his first Christmas at home in 14 years. Collins was
sentenced to life in prison under the state’s “three-strikes” law
for drug convictions. He was released last week from the Department
of Corrections after the Illinois Prisoner Review Board unanimously
granted parole. (Photo submitted)
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2023/Dec/22/images/ads/current/lincolnheating_lda_HFH_2023.png)
After his 2010 arrest, Collins spent months in Cook County Jail before
he was transferred to IDOC, eventually ending up at Menard Correctional
Center in Chester. He said fellow inmates who had been convicted of
violent offenses could not believe he was sentenced to life without
parole. For years, Collins spent time in the law library in the prison
to try to find a way to have his sentence reconsidered.
“I knew it was time for me to get to work; that it couldn’t end this way
for me,” Collins said.
Mira de Jong, an attorney with the Illinois Prison Project, took his
case in 2020.
In an interview with Capitol News Illinois, de Jong noted that none of
the crimes used to aggravate Collins’ sentence were violent but were
drug offenses normally punishable by a maximum of 15 years.
“Most times, the sentence does not take into account growth and change.
The system isn’t designed to help people,” de Jong said. “I don’t think
there’s a lot of space for redemption there.”
After his commutation, Collins was transferred to Western Correctional
Center in Mount Sterling. It was there that Collins had access to
educational and reintegration programs, he said. He took advantage of
the opportunities – achievements noted by the parole board.
After the holidays, Collins said he’s going to try to get his commercial
driver’s license reinstated. A friend offered him a job driving a truck
and later financing to start his own trucking business.
He knows he has missed a lot, time with his children and grandmother,
celebrating graduations, birthdays, and holidays, grieving deaths.
Through it all, Collins said his family was his constant.
Charles Dunn, Collins’ father and best friend, was at the Prisoner
Review Board hearing in Springfield last week. He made the call to
Collins to let him know the board’s decision.
Collins was in the barber shop at Western Illinois Correctional Center
when he received that call from Dunn, who was standing outside the
hearing room.
“You made it!” Dunn told Collins. “You are coming home!”
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Within 24 hours, he was on the road, headed home, looking over his
shoulder for the first half of the trip. He didn’t want to eat, he said.
He just wanted to get home to Chicago. The only stop on the way was that
rest stop where he realized no one was behind them.
“I think I have done all the right things. I have taken responsibility
for my actions. I have shown remorse for those poor decisions. I have
worked to be rehabilitated,” Collins said. “Now, I am just ready to make
a life.”
Capitol News Illinois is
a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service covering state government. It is
distributed to hundreds of print and broadcast outlets statewide. It is
funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R.
McCormick Foundation, along with major contributions from the Illinois
Broadcasters Foundation and Southern Illinois Editorial Association.
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