Carbondale Reporter

State Rep. Terri Bryant (R-Murphysboro) joined with the Illinois Sheriffs' Association to voice objection to Gov. J.B. Pritzker's plan to release convicted felons facing deportation back into the community without notifying local, state or federal authorities, including Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Bryant says no one from the legislature or law enforcement community was notified before the Illinois Department of Corrections decided to implement this change. 

"I am starting to wonder if the general policy direction that the governor and his team want to go in is one of reckless decision making and complete disregard for victims’ rights and law and order over all," Bryant said in an e-newsletter. 

She listed some of the governor's questionable reforms in the newsletter, including ending cash bail for individuals awaiting their court date, legalizing marijuana, allowing Cook County inmates to vote and allowing parolees on ankle monitoring systems to have 12 hours of free movement per day.

Bryant says this last reform poses a danger to the community at large.

“Allowing released rapists, murderers, child molesters, or other sexually violent offenders on electronic monitoring to roam free for 12  hours a day without consequence is a recipe for disaster," Bryant said. “The administration needs to hear from Illinoisans across the state that we do not want parolees with sex offenses or violent histories to be free to roam the streets before they have completed the conditions of their parole and are actually done with their sentence. If we do not speak out against this in a unified voice, I am afraid it will take the commission of a crime by one of these individuals before a change will be made. We can’t let that happen.”