I am the sister of Kathy Anne Woodhouse. Kathy, age 40, mother of three, was murdered in Herrin, Ill., our hometown, on Jan. 18, 1992. The individual who brutally murdered her is one of the 167 inmates former Gov. George Ryan commuted from death row to the regular prison system last month. My family and I have been devastated by this horrible act of injustice and disregard for the victims, the victim’s families, and the judicial system.
On Feb. 3, in my hometown paper, the Southern Illinoisan, an article appeared concerning the three men released into society by Gov. Ryan. P.A. Severs worked for 36 years at Menard Prison in Chester, Ill. He eventually became chief of security for the prison’s death row, a post he held for 10 years until retiring. Severs said he was “dumbfounded” as he watched those three on Oprah Winfrey’s show. To quote Mr. Severs: “I just couldn’t believe it, I know that these guys are guilty. I listened to them boast about what they did and the people they killed.”
Mr. Severs thought, as did we, Kathy’s family, that Gov. Ryan might grant clemency to a few inmates in cases where there were serious questions. He, like my family, did not think the governor would even consider those known to be guilty for sure.
The young man who took my sister’s life laughed and bragged about it. He is now in the regular prison system. And we, who are not naive, know that can mean release somewhere down the road.
Why do people take the law into their own hands? Read the above. Now, the system in Illinois cannot be trusted to carry out the justice handed down in the courtrooms by juries – not even when a murderer confesses freely and laughs about it.
Snohomish
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