|
Collected news stories
regarding the Prisoner Review Board
Victims Families in Illinois still having to endure several months of annual
torture
Chicago Public Radio, WBEZ, in July 2008,
ran an excellent feature story about the plight of murder victims families of
cases from before 1978, prisoners known as "C Numbers" that are still eligible
for annual parole review.
LISTEN TO THE STORY HERE or go to WBEZ.org
and search for
Here is the text of the story and the
letter from IllinoisVictims.org that is posted at the WBEZ website:
It's been more than 30 years since Sue
Levine's father was murdered. The Chicago woman and her family have done what
they can to move on with their lives but antiquated Illinois laws are now
making that extremely difficult.
There's a small group of people in Illinois prisons nick-named "c-class"
inmates. There's only about 300 of them, they all committed crimes before
February 1, 1978. At that time Illinois, like many other states, had something
called indeterminate sentencing. That basically means judges didn't pick a
specific number when handing down sentences. Instead each sentence was in a
range like 20 to 40 years. But eventually someone does have to decide if the
sentence will be closer to 20 years, or 40. That's the job of the parole
board, or the prisoner review board as it's called here in Illinois.
SUE LEVINE: The first time we got that parole letter, you're just, you don't
know what to do. To get a letter like this and on the outside in big print
says "Prisoner Review Board." I mean it took me a couple days to even open it
up. It's awful.
That's Sue Levine and she's talking about the letters she gets every year
telling her that her father's killers are coming up for parole. Her father, a
doctor, was killed in a murder for hire because he was threatening to expose
fraud being committed by another physician. For years, Levine and her family
just wrote letters opposing the inmates release. But as c-class inmates get
older the parole board has been more inclined to let them out. So to prevent
that, Levine and her husband Jerry have been going to all the hearings but
that's exhausting because they have to focus on those painful memories.
SUE LEVINE: I think I replay what happened. I replay that Wednesday morning. I
replay being in the hospital. I replay the police coming to the house. I
replay the funeral.
JEFF LEVINE: I've seen my father cry twice in my life and both times have been
at those hearings.
That's Sue and Jerry's son Jeff Levine. He's gone with his parents to a couple
of the hearings to make sure an inmate named Jerome Zamp stays in jail. It's a
fairly involved process. First, the Levines present their case to a member of
the prisoner review board. They also travel to a prison a few hours from
Chicago to register their protest when a board member talks to Zamp himself.
And then there's the full board meeting in Springfield. So that's three
hearings a year but there's more. Zamp has a co-defendant who helped in the
killing and he also comes up for parole every year. So add another three
hearings. Their son Jeff.
JEFF LEVINE: We're constantly doing these. Either preparing for a hearing, at
a hearing or finishing a hearing. I really wish that there was more time
between the hearings.
MERMALL: Working in Springfield you so often hear advocacy on behalf of people
who are incarcerated and you never hear them talk about the victims. We have
to constantly remind them, whoa whoa whoa, there was a victim here, what do
they have to say.
Meribeth Mermall is the Cook County State's attorney's voice in the
legislature. On behalf of the office she's currently pushing reforms that
would allow the parole board to leave up to five years between parole hearings
which would save the families of victims a lot of grief. But with lawmakers
unable to agree even on a budget, it's unlikely the legislation will be passed
any time soon. That means prosecutors will continue fighting to keep these
inmates in jail. The task falls to Assistant State's Attorney Gina Savini, the
parole and clemency coordinator in the cook county prosecutor's office.
SAVINI: I know that I need to enforce the sentence that a judge handed down
that a prosecutor a little bit older than me went into court and won for a
reason. Because this is the justice that this person met and it's only justice
for the family if they serve this sentence out.
It's like Savini retries the cases all over again before prisoner review board
members who are thirty years removed from the actual crime. She looks for
decades old police reports, crime-scene photos, court transcripts and family
members to give all the arguments some emotional weight.
SAVINI: I would never ask the families to go through this if I thought that it
was a waste of time. I think they're extremely effective.
Sue and Jerry Levine and their son Jeff recently testified in a windowless
conference room at 26th and Califorinia, the court building where Jerome Zamp
was tried and convicted for killing their father and grandfather. They sit at
a table with the board member at the head. A small video camera on a tripod
records them crying as they talk about their loved one. And the assistant
state's attorney who recites the facts of the case and Zamp's behavior in jail
breaks down during his presentation as well. The board member had previously
voted to release Zamp but he told the Levines they had shed new light on the
case for him. But in the car on the way back home, Sue Levine does a post-game
analysis of the hearing.
LEVINE: I didn't read any emotion in his face and I don't think he asked us
many questions like some of the people have.
Levine's nervous and she has good reason to be. Last year 7 board members
voted to release Zamp. That's just one vote shy of the majority he needs to
get out. But here's the kicker. There are currently two vacancies on the board
so now seven is a majority. One of the seats has been open for about six
months, the other a year. It's up to Governor Rod Blagojevich to fill the
vacancies. A spokesman from his office says they're currently looking for
qualified candidates.
Leave a comment - here is our comment:
IllinoisVictims.org, Illinois // Tuesday, July 08, 2008 @ 5:51 PM
Thank you to WBEZ for calling attention to the plight that hundreds of murder
victims family members in Illinois with cases left from before 1978 still have
to go through, year after year after year. The story focused on the Levine
family but there are hundreds of them. Some of their cases are profiled at
www.illinoisvictims.org. Their grief is never allowed to simply rest with the
passage of time. The normal healing process is denied them. Re-engaging with
the offender several months out of every single year of their lives is their
lot in life. They cannot choose to ignore the process, as some prisoner
advocates have suggested. And this WBEZ story did not even tell some of the
horror stories - for example, TWO of these families in the last few years have
ended up accidentally being put in the visiting room at the prison and the
killer brought to their table to see them, because of the sometimes
mismanagement of the process by the Prisoner Review Board and the Department
of Corrections. And in 2006 two killers, John Outlaw and Frederick Thomas were
released without the victims families even being notified of the hearings THAT
year (when every year before they had been notified and had protested
faithfully). The victims families of C number prisoners do not, as the
prisoners do, have an advocacy organization, with staff, budget, funding, etc.
They simply have to go - to the prison - to Springfield -to a hearing room -
and do the horrible re-opening of wounds. For some families now into the
second and third generations . . . What can we do for these families? The
legislation referenced in the story is talked about at www.illinoisvictims.org
- and the bills have already passed UNANIMOUSLY through both the House and the
Senate. Yes, they are still battling the budget there. But this bill to help
the State's Attorneys and the victims families that go before the PRB each
year is a no-brainer that everyone can and HAS agreed on. People should call
Speaker Madigan's office at (217) 782-5350 and ask him to help "reconcile" the
House and Senate versions of these two bills so that the Governor can sign it
into law and bring these families some relief. And everyone should call the
Governor's office at 312-814-2121 and encourage him to appoint crime victims,
law enforcement and prosecutors to the Prisoner Review Board. They are either
not represented at all, or under-represented on this board whose expertise on
these issues needs to be unquestionable. We who are murder victims families in
Illinois are very grateful to the States Attorneys who continually battle for
public safety and for us in the wake of the worst crimes imaginable.
www.illinoisvictims.org
Illinois
Senate Rejects Prisoner
Review Board Nominee
It looks like
some Illinois legislators are moving toward a pro-prisoner mentality
and are adjusting the membership on the PRB accordingly.
From the Belleville News Democrat
Posted on Wed, Jan. 10, 2007
Senate rejects governor's pick for Prisoner Review Board
Associated Press
SPRINGFIELD - The Illinois Senate rejected a prison-board appointee of Gov.
Rod Blagojevich as too "harsh" and then turned down another appointee as a
message to the Democratic governor Tuesday.
Lawmakers also gave the governor approval for a two-week delay in presenting
his plans for a new state budget. Republicans suggested he needs the extra
time because the state budget is in turmoil.
And a push to extend property tax relief for Cook County homeowners stalled
amid technical disagreements between the House and Senate.
The center of the Senate debate over Blagojevich's appointments was former
Peoria Police Chief John Stenson. Blagojevich appointed him to the Prisoner
Review Board in 2004 and was asking the Senate to confirm him for another
appointment until 2011.
But Sen. Rickey Hendon, a Chicago Democrat who chairs the Executive
Appointments Committee, said he's heard complaints for a year or more about
the 61-year-old Stenson. Other board members have told Hendon that Stenson is
"hard to work with."
Hendon would not specify the problems but said prison-reform groups had
multiple complaints. Sen. John Cullerton, D-Chicago, said he was told Stenson
refused to recuse himself from voting on parole for a prisoner Stenson had
arrested.
Stenson did not return a message left at the Prisoner Review Board.
Republicans complained that with a four-decade law enforcement career, Stenson
was highly qualified for the job on the board, which considers parole,
clemency and other appeals from state prisoners.
They said Stenson, who makes $72,950, was being "railroaded" because Hendon
doesn't like his votes to deny parole.
Stenson's confirmation failed on a 25-25 vote. Another appointee -- Shonda
Morrow, an assistant director at the Department of Central Management Services
-- was rejected 11-36.
Hendon said Morrow lacks the "zest or zeal" for the job but was rejected
mostly to show displeasure over Blagojevich appointing her when the Senate was
not in session and not consulting with lawmakers.
Blagojevich spokeswoman Rebecca Rausch said some concerns about Stenson "were
new to us" but that Blagojevich aides continue to try to communicate with
committee members on appointees. CMS spokesman Justin DeJong called Morrow "a
highly competent professional."
Rejected nominees may be resubmitted, but Rausch was unsure whether Stenson or
Morrow would be.
Both chambers voted to grant the governor's request for a two-week delay of
his annual budget address, to March 7. Becky Carroll, the spokeswoman for his
budget office, said the fall election, personnel changes and even construction
in the House chamber have contributed to the need for a delay.
And from
the Peoria Journal Star
Wednesday, January 10, 2007
By LAURA CAMPER
OF COPLEY NEWS SERVICE
SPRINGFIELD - In a surprise move, the state Senate on Tuesday rejected the
reappointment of former Peoria police chief John Stenson to the Prisoner
Review Board.
Stenson needed 30 "yes" votes to win Senate confirmation, but he fell five
votes short on a 25-25 roll call.
Stenson, 61, who was first appointed to the Prisoner Review Board by Gov. Rod
Blagojevich in 2004, attended the confirmation hearing.
"I'm surprised," he said afterward. "But, politics in America. What can I do
about it?"
Sen. Rickey Hendon, D-Chicago, called for rejecting Stenson's nomination,
saying it was "time to go in a different direction." He said that he had
received confidential complaints from other members of the Prisoner Review
Board about "issues with his style" and that Stenson was "rough around the
edges."
When he was asked to give specific examples of problems, Hendon refused,
saying there might be cases that are coming up for review.
Sen. David Koehler, D-Peoria, was taken totally unaware by Hendon's objection
and argued on the Senate floor for Stenson's reappointment.
"His (Stenson's) reputation is without question," Koehler said. "He is
somebody who I've worked with in a professional capacity for a long time, and
I think, I know I speak for (retired Sen. George Shadid of Peoria) as well, .
. . that this is a good man, and this is a man that probably should have that
position."
After the vote, Koehler said he was "just baffled by it."
"I was just very disappointed in the whole thing this morning. I didn't know
about it, really, until a few minutes before I walked into the meeting," he
said.
Sen. Dale Risinger, R-Peoria, said he considered the vote a slap in the face
to Shadid, who had originally sponsored
Stenson when the Senate considered his confirmation.
"I didn't think that they showed good reason for not confirming him," Risinger
said. "I am just really surprised that they wouldn't follow the recommendation
of the governor and of Sen. Shadid."
He went on to say Stenson was not lenient in granting paroles and he believes
that was the reason for his rejection.
"There were some people in the Senate who thought we ought to give the
criminals more of a break and get them out early," Risinger said. "And Stenson
was not that person."
In a news release, Peoria County State's Attorney Kevin Lyons made the same
argument. Lyons criticized the Prisoner Review Board's recent decision to
parole Johnny Lee Savory, who was convicted of the murder of two Peoria
residents in 1977. Stenson opposed that decision.
"Today I am an angered and outraged citizen and prosecutor of Peoria that
watched the creep of politics push out a good man who did not become the
wretched voice of the prison community pleading to get out and live among the
rest of us," Lyons said.
He added: "I register my disgust with the parole board's cavalier coddling of
criminals and the state Senate's ugly poisoning of the parole board membership
by surreptitiously shutting the door to law and order members while opening
the door to (Johnny) Lee Savory and his ilk, all coming to a neighborhood near
you."
Rebecca Rausch, a Blagojevich spokeswoman, said of the governor's plans:
"We're considering our options and we'll work with the senators who've
expressed some concerns."
Stenson served for 37 years with the Peoria Police Department, rising through
the ranks to become the first black chief in 1997. He resigned in 2004 to
accept the position on the Prisoner Review Board.
Laura Camper can be reached at (217) 782-6882 or
laura.camper@sj-r.com.
And...
Saturday, January 13, 2007
By MOLLY PARKER
Of the Journal Star
PEORIA - John Stenson went to Springfield on Wednesday expecting the Senate to
reappoint him to the Illinois Prisoner Review Board, per Gov. Rod
Blagojevich's recommendation, for a term that would have expired in 2011.
Instead, after little debate and in a move that took Peoria lawmakers - and
Stenson - by surprise, the Senate voted 25-25, dumping him from the board.
Thirty "yes" votes were needed for his reappointment.
"I'm not heartbroken," Stenson said Friday. "That's not how I would describe
my emotions. I'm disappointed the system failed me. I did not fail the
system."
During floor debate, Chicago Sen. Rickey Hendon, who chairs the Executive
Appointments Committee, called for the Senate to reject Stenson's appointment,
saying it was "time to go in a different direction."
Hendon said he'd heard complaints about Stenson's style, but he refused to
give specific examples. Many speculated that politics were behind Stenson's
removal.
'Absolutist position'
Hendon did not return repeated calls on Friday. But the John Howard
Association, a prisoner advocacy group based in Chicago, provided insight into
why Peoria's popular former police chief was booted from the board.
The group's differences with Stenson were not personal, and it wasn't about
politics, executive director Malcolm Young said.
"There was a real strong feeling that Mr. Stenson took an absolutist position
and almost never voted to grant parole," he said. "This is a position that is
charged with exercising some discretion. It's not there to rubber stamp the
idea that everybody sentenced in this category should serve the maximum time."
'C-number inmates'
The crux of the group's disagreement with Stenson relates to a group of about
300 inmates sentenced, mostly for murder, before 1978. They are dubbed the
"C-number inmates" because many of their prison codes begin with the letter C.
Illinois law changed in 1978, requiring judges to provide more specific
sentences. But those serving time under the old rules were given indeterminate
prison sentences with the idea they could appear before the Prisoner Review
Board annually to ask for early release.
Stenson rarely voted to grant parole to these prisoners, Young said. That
included last month's controversial release of 44-year-old Johnny Lee Savory,
who was convicted in 1975 of the double murder of two Peoria County teens.
Dissatisfaction with Stenson
But why the John Howard Association had so much influence with Hendon is less
clear.
According to interviews with prison rights advocates, the momentum to oust
Stenson likely started with David Saxner, a Chicagoan who, after serving a
short time in federal prison, started the Campaign in Support of C Number
Prisoners. Saxner reportedly had told Hendon during numerous trips to
Springfield that he was unhappy with Stenson's views toward the inmate
population.
Saxner died on Thanksgiving Day, but not before he got his point across, said
Shaena Fazal, director of the Long-term Prisoner Policy Project, a closely
related advocacy group.
"David went to the hearings and monitored them. I think he, over time,
observed that Stenson had become a vocal voice on the Prisoner Review Board
and had created rules and laws against the spirit of the board."
That included Stenson stating he would not grant parole to any murderer who
had not served at least 30 years of his sentence, she said.
Because of his tough attitude toward criminals, C-number prisoners always
dreaded having Stenson assigned to their cases, said James Sayles, a program
coordinator for the John Howard Association. Sayles was convicted of double
murder in 1971 and paroled in March 2004, just months before Stenson joined
the board.
"Nobody is saying there shouldn't be a voice saying 'Let's be concerned about
punishment or about the victim," he said. "But Mr. Stenson's voice was a very
unreasonable voice, even in terms of other hard-core, victim-oriented,
punishment-oriented members on the board."
Difference of opinion
Peoria County State's Attorney Kevin Lyons, who's attended hearings for years,
said he has noticed a change in the attitude of the board. He railed their
decision to let Savory walk and said the board has turned soft on crime.
"These folks, while they won't admit it, are criminal coddlers," Lyons said.
James Donahue, a former Tazewell County sheriff, said he also was victim to
this change in attitude at the Prisoner Review Board.
Blagojevich did not reappoint Donahue when his term was up in March 2006,
though he had been on the board for years.
"John Stenson was let go, not because of problems, but simply because of his
beliefs. This is a political assassination, and it should be an embarrassment
to the senators who released him," Donahue said Friday.
"There's no question there's a very liberal board chairman, a Democrat liberal
out of Chicago, who's very sympathetic to the inmates' causes. He didn't
appreciate myself or John. I think he had a great deal to do with our
terminations."
Board Chairman Jorge Montes denied that he had anything to do with Stenson's
ousting. Montes said he almost always voted in opposition to Stenson, but said
he has never spoken with Hendon and has no problem with a diversity of
opinion.
"John was considered a hard worker, and he was one of those kinds of employees
that you could only wish everyone was like," Montes said.
A Blagojevich aide was vague when asked whether the governor would consider
reappointing Stenson, as Mayor Jim Ardis has suggested.
Either way, Stenson said he's not sorry for anything he's done.
"When you're from Peoria, and Peoria County, these people are tired of crime,"
he said. "If they turned the clock back, I'd vote the same way, no matter
what."
Molly Parker can be reached at 686-3285 or mparker@pjstar.com
Finally, from the Chicago Tribune.
Old General Assembly rejects action, says goodbye
By John Chase and Monique Garcia
Tribune staff reporters
Published January 9, 2007, 8:31 PM CST
SPRINGFIELD -- In the end, the Illinois General Assembly closed out its two-year
session with a day of rejection.
On the eve of the inauguration of a new legislature, lawmakers on Tuesday failed
to act on rate-relief proposals for electricity customers facing huge increases,
turned down a Cook County assessment cap and gave thumbs down to two of Gov. Rod
Blagojevich's appointees.
Senators adjourned without voting on a House-passed plan backed by Speaker
Michael Madigan (D-Chicago) that would extend for three years a nearly
decade-long freeze on electricity rates. Madigan, in turn, never called a vote
on a Senate-passed plan to phase in the rate hikes over the next three years.
Senate President Emil Jones (D-Chicago) backed the phase-in plan.
Rate increases averaging 22 percent for Commonwealth Edison customers and
increases of 55 percent for Downstate electrical customers of Ameren Corp. took
effect Jan. 1.
Also on Tuesday, a Senate panel rejected a measure to extend a so-called 7
percent cap on increasing property assessments in Cook County.
Sen. Terry Link (D-Vernon Hills) said he will quickly introduce a new measure
and put it on a fast track in the new session. But Rep. Lou Lang (D-Skokie) said
failing to extend the cap was the equivalent of a "property-tax increase for
people living in Cook County."
Earlier in the day, Sen. Rickey Hendon (D-Chicago), who chairs the Senate
Executive Appointments Committee, orchestrated an effort to block the
confirmation of some Blagojevich appointees.
Hendon's most controversial move was blocking Blagojevich's reappointment of
John Stenson, a former police chief of Peoria, to the Prisoner Review Board.
Hendon said questions had been raised about Stenson's ability to be fair in
deciding parole cases and that some parole board members said Stenson was "hard
to work with."
Stenson said the Senate action "surprised me, but this is a democracy ... I
stand by my record."
Kevin Lyons, the Peoria County state's attorney and a supporter of Stenson,
contended the move is turning the Prisoner Review Board into the "Will Rogers of
parole boards, for they never met a murderer they didn't like."
Senators did send the governor a measure extending the statute of limitations
for people to file lawsuits claiming police tortured them into confessing to a
crime.
The bill was prompted by prisoners who alleged they made confessions because of
abuse ordered by former Chicago Police Cmdr. Jon Burge.
jchase@tribune.com
mcgarcia@tribune.com
Copyright © 2007, Chicago Tribune
And just who is
taking credit for getting Chief Stenson fired from his job?
This article
appeared in Stateville Speaks, a newspaper by prisoners and their
advocates:
Parole Board
Member Rejected
Illinois Senate
Rejects Prisoner Review Board Member: Prisoner Advocacy Groups
Behind the Scenes
Two prison reform groups - The Campaign in
Support of C# Prisoners and The Long Term Prisoner Policy Project - worked
behind the scenes to convince the Illinois Senate to reject a Prisoner Review
Board appointee of Governor Rod Blagojevich. The appointee was former Peoria
Police Chief John Stenson. Blagojevich appointed him to the Prisoner Review
Board in 2004 and was asking the Senate to confirm him for another appointment
until 2011.
Members of the C# Campaign and LT3P have been meeting with Senator Rickey
Hendon, a Chicago Democrat who chairs the Executive Appointments Committee,
and with Senator John Cullerton. They have urged the Senators to reject
Stenson on the ground that he almost never voted to grant parole to
rehabilitated C# prisoners even though they had perfect prison records and
solid parole plans. According to early reports out of Springfield, other
Prisoner Review Board members told Senator Hendon that Stenson is "hard to
work with."
Hendon acknowledged on the Senate floor that prison reform groups had multiple
complaints about Stenson. Senator John Cullerton, D-Chicago, said he was told
Stenson refused to recuse himself from voting on parole for a prisoner Stenson
had arrested thirty years ago, when the prisoner was 14 years old. That
prisoner, Johnny Savory, was recently released on parole against strong
opposition from Stenson by a narrow vote.
Republicans complained that with a four decade law enforcement career, Stenson
was highly qualified for the job on the board, which considers parole,
clemency, and revocation and restoration of good time. They said Stenson, who
makes $72,950, was being "railroaded" because Hendon doesn't like his votes to
deny parole.
Stenson's confirmation failed on a 25-25 vote. On the floor of the Senate,
Senator Emil Jones, the President of the Senate, said he had heard bad things
about Stenson. Despite the significant opposition to Stenson's confirmation,
the Governor may still resubmit his name for confirmation, but Rebecca Rausch,
the Governor's spokesperson said the complaints about Stenson were "new to
us," and she did not know if he would be resubmitted.
David Saxner, before his untimely death this Thanksgiving had worked hard to
get Stenson off the PRB. After the vote to reject him, Shaena Fazal of the
LT3P said, "David must be looking down on all this and smiling."
Transcribed from the January 2007 issue of Stateville Speaks, published by
Stateville Speaks, Westchester, IL.
Ex-board member, prison official cleared
By Ray Long
Tribune staff reporter
March 20, 2007
SPRINGFIELD -- A former state parole board member was cleared Monday of
charges that he voted to free mob hit man Harry Aleman in exchange for
help in getting his son a gig as an entertainer in Las Vegas.
Sangamon County Circuit Judge Patrick Kelley found both Victor Brooks and
former ranking prison official Ron Matrisciano not guilty of charges that
included official misconduct and wire fraud in the case brought by the
office of Atty. Gen. Lisa Madigan.
Kelley delivered a directed verdict for Brooks and Matrisciano, meaning
the defendants did not even have to present their side before the judge
ruled the attorney general's office had not proven its case, defense
attorneys said.
"We believe this case should never have been indicted in the first place,
and this view has been borne out by the outcome today," said L. Lee Smith,
a former federal prosecutor who represented Brooks.
Brooks, 56, formerly of Batavia but now living in Florissant, Mo., was the
only member of the Prisoner Review Board who voted in 2002 in favor of
parole for Aleman, who remains in prison serving 100 to 300 years for
killing a Teamsters official. Matrisciano, 52, formerly a high-ranking
prison official, testified on behalf of Aleman and eventually lost his job
with the Illinois Department of Corrections as the case unfolded.
The indictment alleged Brooks agreed to vote for Aleman's release in
exchange for Matrisciano's help in landing Brooks' son, a singer, a job in
Las Vegas. Prison officials have said Matrisciano told them he is a family
friend of Aleman's. But the judge ruled there was insufficient evidence of
an alleged quid pro quo, Smith said.
"We presented all of the evidence to the court," said Robyn Ziegler,
Madigan's spokeswoman. "The court considered that evidence and reached its
decision, and we respect that decision."
Matrisciano and Brooks had been friends for more than 20 years.
Matrisciano, a frequent visitor to Las Vegas, merely had suggested a
couple of people to call during a lunch in Nevada with Brooks' son, Smith
said.
"Ron said, `When I'm out there (in Las Vegas), maybe I can get him a
couple of leads,'" said Terry Ekl, who represented Matrisciano.
The indictment also alleged Matrisciano knew he should have been speaking
as a private citizen to the Prisoner Review Board and falsely portrayed
his statement as a recommendation from the Illinois Department of
Corrections, but the allegation was also tossed aside, Ekl said.
Evidence showed Matrisciano, who is seeking his job back, had brought the
matter up beforehand to superiors and received approval and that he had
not identified himself as representing the department, Ekl said.
The indictments were the latest twist in the long saga of Aleman, the
nephew of reputed former rackets boss Joseph Ferriola.
His conviction in 1997 made American legal history as the first time a
criminal defendant had been retried after an acquittal. A mob lawyer later
admitted that he bribed the judge in the first trial, and Aleman was
subsequently convicted of the 1972 murder.
The Tribune first reported that Matrisciano, while serving in his role as
an assistant deputy director of the Illinois Department of Corrections in
December 2002, testified before the Prisoner Review Board in favor of
paroling Aleman.
After a parole hearing at Dixon Correctional Center, the parole board
officer overseeing the matter recommended Aleman's bid for parole be
denied. Such recommendations are usually upheld unanimously by the full
board.
But when the full board considered the matter, Brooks made the unusual
request for a roll call vote and cast the only vote for Aleman's parole.
----------
rlong@tribune.com
Copyright © 2007, Chicago Tribune
We do not see how, with a 200-300 year
sentence, that any member of the Prisoner Review Board could miss the
clear intent of the presiding judge in this case. Apparently, at
least one of them has, and will continue to do so.
NBC5.com
Attorney Encouraged By Parole Board's Vote
POSTED: 11:13 am CDT July 27, 2006
UPDATED: 9:07 am CDT July 28, 2006
CHICAGO -- One of the most infamous murder cases in Chicago history closed
another chapter as the Illinois Prisoner Review Board denied parole for
Patricia Columbo Thursday.
Columbo is serving 200 to 300 years for killing her mother, father and
13-year-old brother in the family's Elk Grove Village home in 1976.
For the first time she received two votes in favor of parole, but not
enough to set her free.
The vote was 12-to-2 against Columbo.
But the fact that Columbo received two votes was groundbreaking according
to Board chairman Jorge Montes, who voted against parole this time.
Her attorney, Joey Mogul, called the development a step toward gaining
freedom.
“I will say it’s one step forward," she said.
In a cramped conference room in Springfield, parole board member Geraldine
Tyler cast the first vote ever for granting Patricia Columbo parole.
Thirty years ago Patty Columbo and her 37-year-old lover, Frank Deluca,
savagely murdered Columbo's mother, father and 13-year-old brother in
their Elk Grove Village home.
Columbo's parents disapproved of her and Deluca’s relationship.
Board member John Stenson strongly opposes parole for Columbo, and in his
corner was Ray Rose, the lead detective in the case.
“She owes a debt to society and she's not paid the debt,” said Rose.
When NBC 5 asked Columbo about parole in April, she said, “I think that's
between God and the parole board.”
Copyright 2006 by NBC5.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be
published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
And from CBS2Chicago:
Jul 8, 2006 2:35 pm US/Central
Parole Request Weighed For Woman Who Killed Family
Patricia Columbo's Case Made Headlines In 1970s
(AP) DWIGHT, Ill. The Illinois Prisoner Review Board is
considering a 14th request for parole from a woman serving time
for the brutal 1976 murders of her suburban Chicago family.
Patricia Columbo, 50, has earned five college degrees and tutored
other inmates at Dwight Correctional Center, her attorney told
three board members at a preliminary parole hearing. Columbo, who
is serving a 200- to 300-year sentence, has been denied parole 13
other times.
Others, including Columbo's aunt, argued tearfully against her
release.
"These horrible deaths haunt me and all my family," Carolyn
Tygrett, 63, told the review board members.
Columbo was 19 years old when she and her 39-year-old lover, Frank
DeLuca, shot her parents and 13-year-old brother, Michael, in the
family's Elk Grove Village home. Prosecutors said during Columbo's
1977 trial that the pair murdered the family because her parents
objected to the relationship.
The violence of the murders shocked the community. Columbo's
father, Frank, was bludgeoned with a bowling trophy besides being
shot. Her brother was stabbed 87 times and her mother, Mary, was
found with her throat slit.
"To try and express the regret, I wouldn't know where to begin,"
Columbo said during the hearing Friday. "I can't even wrap my mind
around it."
Joey Mogul, Columbo's attorney, said his client has been a model
prisoner. He submitted 14 letters from former prison staff and
inmates praising her volunteer work and achievements.
Columbo wept as a former inmate, Cora Buie, spoke in favor of
parole. Buie, who met Columbo in 1983 when Buie was 16 and a newly
convicted prisoner, said Columbo encouraged her.
"I thought I was going to die here, that I was just a piece of
crap," Buie told the board.
The 15-member review board is expected to decide on Columbo's
request by the end of the month.
Chairman Jorge Montes said the board faces a dilemma.
"There are very few cases that come to mind that are as heinous
... as Ms. Columbo's case," Montes said. "Having said that, there
are very few cases where there has been such a splendid
rehabilitation."
(© 2006 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material
may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
Two
Stories from HOI 9 Online on a statement from Peoria's State's
Attorney, Kevin Lyons, regarding the Prisoner Review Board.
Statement from Peoria County State's Attorney
Kevin Lyons
Posted: Tuesday, January 09, 2007 at 5:23 PM
PEORIA -- Inch by inch, vote by vote, member by member, justice
and sanity is leaking out of the Illinois Prisoner Review Board.
And just this afternoon, after a clear under the table
orchestration to rip one of Peoria's finest citizens off this
board, Peoria no longer has John Stenson representing them on this
madcap mix of let-em-go political appointees.
If anyone had any doubt that the Illinois Prisoner Review Board
has been reconstituted in the last five years to become a proud
and loud majority of advocates, yes advocates, for convicted
killers, I point to Johnny Lee Savory, paroled by this board just
last month and released from prison the very next day. In support
of paroling Savory, the murderer of two Peorians in 1977, a parole
board member boasted:
“ Well, just last month we paroled two juveniles who did less than
five y ears in prison for each of the murders they did."
And this makes them proud?
I myself was present when various members waxed and waned about
the virtues and innocence of Johnny Lee Savory. One member,
Geraldine Tyler of Chicago, snapped her finger when I sought to
correct misstatements and blurted out, “You can't talk.” And it
was Geraldine Tyler who snipped and yapped in open session that
she “has been holding a bed open” at the place she wanted Savory
to go and had been waiting for this glorious moment of release.
Need I mention that Ms. Tyler, a Chicagoan, has served a whopping
two years on this board, a board I have appeared before for the
past 18 years. This woman was an open and notorious advocate for
Savory's release and her group hug efforts during the Savory
hearing to stifle any word to the contrary was as insulting a
practice toward law-abiding Peorians and victims as I have ever
seen. As James Robinson and Connie Cooper lay in their Peoria
graves, Geraldine Tyler crowed for Savory's release, hearing not a
word from his victims – after all, they are dead.
The Savory case was “assigned” to member Jesse Madison. A member
of the board a whole two years, Madison was the previous special
assistant to state senator Emil Jones. My, some surprise. Madison
read a word-by-word plea to the board for Savory's release. He
noted he needed just “one more vote, just one more vote” and
begged that a member supply that one vote so that Savory could go
free. An advocate for a killer's release, plain and simple.
Craig Findlay, a self-described law and order type from
Jacksonville, Illinois, voted to parole Savory, and expressed
great pride over his decision to make the call over the voice of
one other man who made it clear that Savory was not fit for parole
and that Peoria, nor the mother of the victims, were deserving of
Savory's release back into society. That man was parole board
member John Stenson.
John Stenson made it clear that Peoria was being shortchanged by
this parole board. John Stenson knew the Savory case and it was
apparent that the Savory-ettes were unbothered about the facts.
John Stenson's passionate and fact-filled plea to keep Savory in
prison was rebuffed by this new batch of parole board members.
Their mission was to open the prison doors to a double killer they
had come to praise and coddle. And today, John Stenson paid the
price. The senate president had clearly worked his votes and,
without indication or warning, had the executive committee vote to
not appoint Stenson in the morning, and the senate itself made it
reality in the afternoon.
It is not just the Savory case that irritated the senate president
and a few of the gutless government haters on the Illinois
Prisoner Review Board. It is the fact that John Stenson, a black
American, a Peoria Police Chief, a young man of principle who grew
up into a strong man of conscience, voiced to his community and to
the parole board, that courts and communities ought to be listened
to, and that criminals breed crime, period. Second and third
chances are find, Stenson has remarked, but when you think you get
it and nobody else does, maybe you need to rethink.
John Stenson has long made it clear that personal responsibility
is just that: personal. You do the crime, you do the time. Sorry
for the crime and sorry for getting caught are two different
things to John Stenson. He didn't become the first black police
chief of Peoria because nobody else wanted the job. He didn't
whine when things didn't go his way, then or now. And I doubt that
he's griping today, because John Stenson is a gentleman and today
I am not. Today I am an angered and outraged citizen and
prosecutor of Peoria that watched the creep of politics push out a
good man who did not become the wretched voice of the prison
community pleading to get out and live among the rest of us.
And so we now have the newly reconstituted Illinois Prisoner
Review Board, the Will Rogers of parole boards, for they never met
a murderer they didn't like. On behalf of the law-abiding people
of Peoria County and central Illinois, I register my disgust with
the parole board's cavalier coddling of criminals and the state
senate's ugly poisoning of the parole board membership by
surreptitiously shutting the door to law and order members while
opening the door to Johnny Lee Savory and his ilk, all coming soon
to a neighborhood near you.
And:
Examples of a
“Prisoner Proactive Board”
HOI 19 Online News – 1/9/2007 – John Lee Savory Case (Paroled)
Statement from Peoria County State’s Attorney Kevin Lyons
“Geraldine Tyler snapped her finger when I sought to correct misstatements
and blurted out “You can’t talk”. And it was Geraldine Tyler who snipped and
yapped in open session that she “has been holding a bed open” at the place
she wanted Savory to go and had been waiting for this glorious moment of
release. This woman was an open and notorious advocate for Savory’s release
and her group hug efforts during the Savory hearing to stifle any word to
the contrary was as insulting a practice toward law abiding Peroians and
victims as I have ever seen. Geraldine Tyler crowed for Savory’s release,
hearing not a word from his victims – after all, they are dead.
The Savory case was assigned to member Jesse Madison. Madison read a word
–by-word plea to the board for Savory’s release. He noted he needed just
“one more vote, just one more vote” and begged that a member supply that one
vote so that Savory could go free. An advocate for a killer’s release, plain
and simple.
Craig Findlay, a self described law and order type from Jacksonville,
Illinois, voted to parole Savory, and expressed great pride over his
decision to make the call over the voice of another man who made it clear
that Savory was not fit for parole and that Peoria, nor the mother of the
victims, were deserving of Savory’s release back into society. That man was
John Stenson.
A story from the Peoria Star that discusses the vital importance
of victim notification in the Prisoner Review Board's and other
processes.
Victim's families waiting
for letter
Governor: Notification was sent via Federal Express on Friday
January 12, 2003
By ADRIANA COLINDRES
of Copley News Service
SPRINGFIELD - Frank Burton and Sandy Scheffert kept an eye out
Saturday for the letters telling them - and other murder victims'
relatives - what Gov. George Ryan had decided to do with Illinois'
death row inmates.
But the letters still hadn't arrived by 1 p.m., the time the
governor publicly announced he was granting a blanket clemency to
everyone on death row. Ryan had said on Friday that he would
reveal his decision after notifying the families.
"I'm still waiting by the mailbox, waiting for chicken George's
letter," said Burton, whose son Scott was killed during a 1988
robbery at S&S Liquors in Bloomington. Former Bloomington and
Springfield resident Glenn Wilson was sent to death row for that
crime.
"It bothers me a great deal," Burton said.
Burton said even though his son was killed almost 15 years ago,
the pain of that loss returns "every time" the Wilson case comes
up.
"If they'd go ahead and execute him and get it over with, we'd at
least be done with it," Burton said after Ryan's speech. "But
that's out of the question now, I guess."
'Slap in the face'
Scheffert said that as of 4:30 p.m., about two hours after the
Ryan speech, she still hadn't gotten word from the governor.
"I feel that it's a slap in the face," said Scheffert, whose
parents were murdered in their Peoria County home in August 1987.
"I just really can't believe that I'm that hard to find in the
state of Illinois."
Jimmy Ray Pitsonbarger has been on death row for more than a
decade for fatally shooting Scheffert's parents, Claude and Alta
Brown.
Likewise, relatives of murder victim Gregory McAnarney didn't
receive a letter Saturday morning. McAnarney was fatally shot by
Tuhran Lear on Sept. 3, 1988, during a robbery of a Farmersville
gas station.
McAnarney's family also wasn't contacted last fall about the
clemency hearings conducted by the Prisoner Review Board for more
than 130 death row inmates.
"We've never heard a word about anything since the trial - that
was 14 years ago," said his mother, Verna McAnarney of Port
Charlotte, Fla.
After the Saturday afternoon speech, Ryan was told some downstate
families hadn't received the letters.
"I'll take the heat," he said.
The governor said his office sent the letters Friday afternoon via
Federal Express and that they were to be in the hands of
recipients by 10 a.m. Saturday.
Dubious claims?
Relatives who did receive the letter early Saturday included
George and Cathy Drobney of Downers Grove. Their 16-year-old
daughter, Bridget, was stabbed to death in a Macoupin County
cornfield in July 1985 - a crime that put Robert G. Turner on
death row.
George Drobney questioned Ryan's motives in issuing the blanket
commutation.
"I think he is not thinking of the victims - he is thinking only
of himself," Drobney said. "I think the governor is only concerned
about getting the Nobel Peace Prize. I, for one, hope he burns in
hell."
Sangamon County State's Attorney John Schmidt said he was
disappointed in Ryan's decision and doubted the governor gave
every case individual attention.
"I find that claim to be dubious, at best," he said.
But not everyone had a critical view of Ryan's decision to grant
blanket clemency.
The father of one death row inmate said that watching the
governor's speech on television was among the "most emotional
things that I've been through since my son's trial back in '94."
"I really admire the man. I think he's very courageous," said
Jesse Ray Burgess Jr.
In court documents and in media accounts, Burgess' son has been
referred to as Raymond Burgess, convicted of murder in the beating
death of 3-year-old Matthew Mote of Green Rock. But the elder
Burgess said his son's real name is Jesse Ray Burgess III.
"I can breathe a little easier now, now that the thought of
bringing him out and sticking a needle in his arm is not going to
be there," said Burgess Jr.
"I haven't had much to do with the legal system until my son was
arrested," he said. "From what I've seen during the past eight
years, the entire system really needs to be looked at very, very
critically by intelligent people."
He said the reprieve from Ryan means now there will be time for a
thorough investigation of the case against his son, who maintains
he is innocent.
For now, Burgess Jr. said he hopes to work on some of his son's
"more immediate problems," including harassment by prison workers
and health troubles.
Burgess and most other death row inmates asked for clemency last
year. The Office of the State Appellate Defender filed most of the
petitions on the prisoners' behalf.
It's a relief
The governor's decision on blanket clemency pleased Charles
Schiedel, deputy defender of the office's Supreme Court unit,
which handles appeals in death penalty cases.
"I have had a couple of clients who were executed," Schiedel said.
"I'm very relieved it will probably be quite a while before that
happens again."
After last fall's clemency hearings, the Prisoner Review Board
reviewed the death penalty cases and sent confidential
recommendations to the governor. Reportedly, the board recommended
clemency in fewer than 10 cases.
Prisoner Review Board Chairman Craig Findley wouldn't comment
Saturday on Ryan's decision, or on how it compared with the
board's recommendations.
"It was a very well-crafted speech, and it showed a governor whose
judgment has changed over 35 years of public service," Findley
said. "I think he allowed the people of Illinois to understand why
he did what he did. I know the crime victims will not accept or
understand this, having listened to so many of their pleas."
Copley News Service reporter Mary Massingale contributed to this
story.
A Chicago publication of the Medill School of Journalism
The decision-makers: the faces behind the Illinois Prisoner Review
Board
by Herman Wang
November 07, 2002
They are a diverse group, this band of 14.
Among them are a former math teacher, a graduate of the FBI
National Academy, a cable television talk show host, a Korean War
veteran and a member of the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra. They
range in age from mid-30s to late-70s. Four are women; 10 are men.
Together, they may control the fate of Illinois' 142 Death Row
inmates.
They are the state's Prisoner Review Board, a panel appointed by
the governor and charged with the duty of overseeing Illinois'
correctional system.
Until recently, they operated in relative anonymity. But last
month, after two weeks of unprecedented clemency hearings for most
of Illinois' Death Row inmates, the 14 board members were thrust
into the spotlight. (A 15th member, David A. Frier, was appointed
by Gov. George Ryan on Nov. 1 and did not sit in on the recent
clemency deliberations.)
The hearings were conducted at the request of Ryan, who has placed
a moratorium on executions in Illinois until, he said, the state's
capital punishment system is fixed. With less than two months left
in his term, Ryan wants to reexamine the men and women on Death
Row to determine if there were flaws in their cases. If so, he can
commute their sentences to life in prison or less.
Ryan will be relying on the non-binding recommendations of the
Prisoner Review Board to make his final decision.
"A lot of people think that this is the first time we've ever done
clemency hearings," said board member Anthony Agee. "But this is
what we do. It's the first time this many special cases have been
heard all at one time, and that's because the governor asked us to
do this. But we hear clemency cases on a regular basis as part of
our job."
Indeed, clemency hearings represent only a small portion of the
board's day-to-day operation. Board members are regularly assigned
to prisons and youth detention facilities throughout the state,
where they conduct hearings on parole violations, parole
eligibility and behavior infractions. In essence, they are a
quasi-judicial body governing the Illinois correctional system.
"We provide a check and balance on the Illinois Department of
Corrections," said board member Jorge Montes. "We're sort of an
opportunity to second guess what goes on in these institutions. We
keep boasting about how Illinois has the best justice system in
the world, but that's not to say there isn't room for
fine-tuning."
The board members do not take their responsibility lightly. As
their work has shown, they say, not all criminals are hopeless
causes.
"Not everybody who's locked up is a bad person," said Agee, 48, of
Evanston. "Some of them, as a result of being incarcerated, are
truly different people now. I feel I'm there to provide
inspiration to [inmates]. I don't want them to perceive me as
their messiah, but they deserve hope and dignity."
The board members carried that sentiment with them as they
presided over the emotionally charged clemency hearings that began
on Oct. 15.
Much of the testimony from family members of the victims was
dramatic and gut-wrenching.
"One would have to be a robot not to be touched," said Montes, a
Chicago lawyer who hosts a talk show on cable television. "At the
same time, we're not there to get emotional. We're given a serious
responsibility and an onerous task. We also have to realize that
these Death Row inmates have families too, and we have to give
them the same amount of courtesy as we do to the victims.
"Some of these guys are monsters, but some of them may be
innocent," he continued. "We're there to give both sides a fair
chance."
The sessions, held in Chicago and Springfield, were long, often
running past their allotted times, but board members said they
felt an obligation to hear each case to the very end so they could
make informed decisions.
"My father always said, 'Hoe to the end of the row,' and that's
what we did," said board chairman Anne Taylor, who has been on the
review board since 1983, the longest tenure among the current
members. Taylor, of Champaign, is serving her fourth 6-year term.
"We knew there'd be cameras watching our every move and
reactions," added board member Craig Findley. "It wasn't hard for
us to focus because we all knew the seriousness in dealing with
human lives."
The two weeks of clemency hearings wore on everyone, including the
board members. At times, their tempers flared and several members
snapped at lawyers and at each other. Observers wondered if their
private deliberations might be contentious. Not so, the board
members said.
"In making these kinds of decisions, you have to respect people's
opinions and experience," Agee said. "This is a person's life
we're talking about here. We always have that in mind. We don't
always agree with each other, but we're very professional."
In fact, some board members said their varied backgrounds work to
the board's advantage when considering complex, thorny cases. Six
board members are from northern Illinois, four are from southern
Illinois and another four are from the central region of the
state. Board member Norman Sula, a former math teacher and
engineer, noted that the committee is equally split among
Democrats and Republicans, even though all the members were
appointed by Republican governors.
"Because we all come from all different ethnic, occupational,
philosophical, geographical and educational backgrounds, we ask
very different questions," said Findley, a former state
representative and newspaper publisher who plays the trombone in
the downstate Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra. "That's how we're
able to come to very good decisions."
The board's recommendations are now in the hands of Ryan, who will
consider whether to grant clemency in each case before he leaves
office in January. It closes a hectic and exhausting chapter in
the board's history, one the members are proud of.
"I feel we've served the governor well," Taylor said. "We've
looked at all sides of the petitions, and we've made intelligent
and fair decisions. I think we've worked very hard, and we did a
good job."
An Insight into the Workings of the Prisoner Review Board
Here is one example of how the Prisoner Review Board voted on a
case profiled by the Chicago Tribune: The possible parole of
Theodore Bacino, who murdered a police officer Michael Mayborne
during a bank robbery outside of Rockford, Illinois in the 1970's.
This vote was taken in 2006.
We offer this public information about their votes as a way of
providing insights into the philosophies of the various members of
the PRB. Their votes can be seen in a discussion in the video done
at www.chicagotribune.com/parole.
AGAINST THE PAROLE: Eric Althoff, Nancy Bridges-Mickelson,
Salvador Diaz, Robert Dunne, Thomas Johnson, Milton Maxwell, John
Stenson, Stein (?)
FOR THE PAROLE: Jorge Montes, Chairman, Craig Findley, David Frier,
Jesse Madison, Norman Sula, Geraldine Tyler.
Chairman Montes said in his Tribune interview :" I have been an
advocate for [Mr. Bacino] for years . . I have been in his corner
for a while." It is the opinion of IllinoisVictims.org that it is
inappropriate for any member of the PRB to consider themselves an
advocate for a prisoner. They are charged as a "quasi-judicial"
body with the management of all prison release issues, and are
therefore in our view, public watchdogs.
We are seeking records of all PRB votes for releases of C number
prisoner cases. They are public information but we have not been
able to find them on the PRB website.
In the recent release of John Outlaw, all on the PRB voted for his
release, but with one absent and one no vote. A condition of Mr
Outlaw's release was that he take "anger management" classes,
which makes us question his release even more than the clear
original intention of his sentence that he serve life.
We have requested the voting information from the PRB. That
information is noted above.
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