Prairie State Wire

Gov. J.B. Pritzker has chosen to protect violent offenders over the people of Illinois, gubernatorial candidate Sen. Darren Bailey (R-Louisville) alleges.

"Gov. J.B. Pritzker has turned his back on law enforcement and the safety of Illinoisans,” Bailey said. “He has turned the Illinois Prisoner Review Board into a violent offender advocacy agency. What is happening with the Prisoner Review Board is only serving to make our communities less safe. Putting convicted violent offenders back on the street is not justice, and it is not fair to the victims of these heinous crimes to have these convicts roaming free simply to make a political statement.”

Safety on the streets, Bailey stressed, means choosing the right thing and not releasing convicted individuals.

“Unfortunately, Gov. Pritzker continues to cater to the most extreme members of his party as he puts his woke ideology ahead of the safety of Illinois citizens,” he said. “As Governor, I will demand law and order, support law enforcement, make responsible appointments to the Prisoner Review Board, and ensure my nominees will put community safety first."

The Illinois Prisoner Review Board, which was stymied earlier this year when state lawmakers denied two of Gov. J.B. Pritzker's nominees, voted to release two men convicted of killings in the Chicago region and to deny parole to six others, according to the Chicago Sun-Times. It was the first meeting of the parole board since the legislators voted in March to confirm the appointments of Jeffrey Mears and Eleanor Kaye Wilson. The two had been accused of being soft on crime.

Approximately one-third of the cases heard by the board under the Pritzker administration were granted release. When asked about the Parole Review Board's problematic releases, Pritzker said Republicans don't look at the whole picture.

“It’s easy to do what the Republicans do,” he said. “They take the original crime that took place, often decades and decades ago. And they just talk about the headline of that crime and don’t talk about everything else that’s occurred.”

The board has been criticized for releasing dangerous inmates. The criticism comes at a time when Pritzker is at odds with Senate Democrats after Pritzker's nominations to the Prison Review Board were rejected by the Senate after Zelma King, who was convicted of a triple murder, was released from prison, according to the Chicago Tribune.