Metro East Sun

Illinois Sen. Terri Bryant recently vowed to 'fight to end the policies of a runaway Prison Review Board.'

"I was contacted by the family of Bridget Dobney asking if there is anything I could do to stop the potential release of her rapist and murderer," Bryant wrote in a Jan. 3 Facebook post. "This is what we are dealing with in Springfield. Join Senators Plummer, McClure, and I as we fight to end the policies of a runaway Prison Review Board."

In her post, Bryant shared a Facebook post from fellow Sen. Jason Plummer who wrote, "It amazes me that we live in a state where "progressive" Democrats fight so hard to keep violent repeat offenders, who are clearly a threat to our communities, on the streets. It amazes me that Governor JB Pritzker would try to stack the Prisoner Review Board with so many people of questionable qualifications and whose main role, it would seem to be, was to vote to release violent criminals who committed some of the most heinous crimes in our state's history."

According to CBS News, in 1985, Bridget Drobney was 16 years old when she was abducted, raped, and murdered in a cornfield by three men who were impersonating police officers. One of the men, Robert G. Turner, was arrested and convicted for the crime and is now set to have a clemency hearing in January. Drobney's family opposes the hearing. 

The Illinois Prisoner Review Board has made some controversial decisions. In April 2022. Sen. Steve McClure, a former Sangamon County prosecutor, told the Illinois Times that some of the board members have voted to release more than half of the inmates that come before them including, rapists, murderers and cop killers. 

"The real catalyst for this controversy is that they began releasing people that are the worst of the worst," McClure said. "One of the cases was a man who attempted to rape two women. And one of them refused, and he shot her in the face. Four years before he was up in front of the Prisoner Review Board, he threatened a state's attorney. So, these are people found guilty of committing heinous crimes for which they should never get out of prison. But they also have shown demonstratively that they have not been rehabilitated."

In the June 28, 2022, election, Bryant ran unopposed in her efforts to serve the residents of District 58.