Chicago City Wire

Illinois Republican Party Chairman Don Tracy is questioning Gov. J.B. Pritzker's Department of Corrections for not reviewing the parole status of an alleged carjacker who was let go and picked back up for selling heroin on the same block where the carjacking occurred. 

"It was recently reported that Theo Davis, who was charged with carjacking, robbery and heroin delivery charges, was allowed to go home on electronic monitoring and then nine days later, was arrested again for selling heroin on the same block where the carjacking occurred," Tracy said in his weekly memo. "Wait, Pritzker’s DOC did not review his parole status?"

Davis, 29, was placed on electronic monitoring following the carjacking. He previously had been convicted of four felonies. He was picked up for carjacking on the 3500 block of West Lake in Chicago before being released. However, the Illinois Department of Corrections did not review Davis’s parole status and released him six weeks later after dropping his bond. Nine days after his release, he was picked up by police again on the 3500 block of West Lake in Chicago, this time for selling heroin. 

Meanwhile, the Illinois Department of Corrections is accused of misleading the public regarding a Legionella outbreak at several Illinois prisons in March. In a press release, the Department of Corrections said the bacterial infection that causes a deadly type of pneumonia was limited to Stateville Correctional Center and Joliet Treatment Center. However, in a separate memo to the incarcerated, the department said Legionella had been located at Stateville and at the Northern Reception and Classification Center, another prison facility in Joliet. 

Pritzker has been heavily chastised for allegedly improperly releasing dangerous inmates. The Senate recently rejected Pritzker's nomination to the Prison Review Board. The criticism comes at a time when Pritzker and Senate Democrats are at odds. The decision to reject Pritzker's nomination was made after Zelma King, who was convicted of a triple murder, was released from prison.