By BETH HUNDSDORFER
Capitol News Illinois
bhundsdorfer@capitolnewsillinois.com

SPRINGFIELD – A Prisoner Review Board member facing Senate confirmation submitted his resignation on Monday.

Oreal James resigned by way of a letter to Gov. JB Pritzker.

James, a certified mediator focused on restorative justice in public education, was appointed by Pritzker in April 2019. James received his undergraduate and law degree from DePaul College of Law.

“Thank you for the opportunity to serve the State of Illinois while on the Prisoner Review Board,” James stated in his resignation letter to Pritzker. “I took seriously the responsibility to apply the law as it is written in our constitution. These laws direct the board to be fair to all without bias or prejudice. This too, is all you have ever asked of me. It is my hope I have fulfilled this request completely.”

James could not be reached for comment on Monday afternoon.

It’s the latest shakeup on the governor-appointed board that has seen heavy Republican scrutiny in the last year as the Senate repeatedly delayed hearing several of Pritzker’s appointees.

The board determines whether offenders should be released from Illinois Department of Corrections custody and what the terms of their release should be. It also makes recommendations on clemency, arbitrates the calculation of good time credit, and reviews cases of those who violate the terms of their parole to decide whether they should be returned to prison. The job pays roughly $90,000 per year. 

James and Eleanor Kaye Wilson were originally appointed to the 15-member Prisoner Review Board by Pritzker in April 2019, but those appointments were withdrawn in March 2021 and submitted just days later. Last week, their appointments moved out of the Senate Executive Appointments Committee without a recommendation.

The Senate must vote on Wilson’s appointment by Tuesday or she will automatically be approved. A 60-session-day clock that was scheduled to expire Monday was extended one day after the Senate canceled last Friday’s session.

Under the law, a gubernatorial appointment must be approved within 60 session days otherwise they become confirmed automatically. Wilson and James came under scrutiny when their appointments were pulled and then resubmitted by Pritzker to restart the 60-session-day clock in which their appointments could be heard by the committee. This practice is allowed under Senate rules and has been used by previous governors.

Pritzker said it was a move he had to use as the Senate neglected to act on his appointments, while Republicans countered it was a way to circumvent votes on controversial nominees.

The committee discussion for the appointees largely centered on the board members’ votes to release certain individuals, including two men in their 70s in prison for the 1976 killing of a state trooper and a woman who killed her two newborn daughters while suffering from postpartum psychosis.

Wilson was director of DePaul University’s School for New Learning, as well as director of urban programs at Chicago City-Wide College, and is the godmother to the former President Barack Obama’s daughters, Sasha and Malia.

After James’ resignation, there are seven members on the 15-member board. Of those, LeAnn Miller, Jared Bohland, Ken Tupy and Wilson need Senate approval. Tupy and Bohland were recommended by the Executive Appointments Committee unanimously. Miller was also recommended.

Another appointee, Jeff Mears, was rejected by the Senate last week after receiving a recommendation from the committee. He received just 22 votes, as 18 Democrats chose not to vote on Mears’ appointment and one Democrat, Patrick Joyce, D-Essex, joined Republicans in voting against it.

Two weeks ago, Pritzker pulled the appointment of Max Cerda, a PRB board member who was convicted of a double murder when he was 16 years old and paroled in 1998. It appeared Cerda would not have enough Senate support for approval.

Last year, the PRB held 4,595 revocations hearings across the state. The board is scheduled to hear clemency petitions from April 12 to 15. Also, the board will hear petitions for release under the Joe Coleman Act that went into effect on Jan. 1. The Act will allow offenders that suffer from a terminal illness or medical incapacitation to file a medical release application.

Capitol News Illinois is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service covering state government that is distributed to more than 400 newspapers statewide. It is funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation.