Former Illinois Gov. George Ryan passed away at 91, a close friend and former Illinois House Republican Leader Jim Durkin confirmed on Friday. Ryan's tenure as governor from 1999 to 2003 was overshadowed by a federal corruption conviction that led to over five years in prison, as per ABC7 Chicago. Despite this, Ryan is remembered for his significant decision to institute a moratorium on the death penalty in the state, a move that resonated beyond his years in office.
Durkin, once a leading figure in the Illinois House, revealed that Ryan had been placed in hospice care recently, signaling his health had been in decline, as reported by ABC7 Chicago. No specific cause of death was immediately disclosed. Ryan's legal woes stemmed from a tragic accident in 1994 that killed six children; a bribe to a staffer in Ryan’s office, during his time as Secretary of State, allowed the responsible truck driver to obtain his license.
After being found guilty on charges including racketeering, conspiracy, tax fraud, and making false statements to the FBI, Ryan was sentenced in 2006 and ordered to pay restitution of $603,348. Reflecting on the impact of his actions and subsequent incarceration, Ryan once said in a statement obtained by NBC Chicago, "Justice is supposed to be blind, but the fact is most people are blind about the justice system."
Emerging from prison in 2013 to the loss of his wife of 55 years, Lura Lynn Ryan, who succumbed to cancer during his sentence, Ryan continued to make public appearances. In such events, he spoke candidly of his experiences and convictions about the justice system. In a 2015 talk, Ryan addressed the struggles faced by those re-entering society after serving time and his pride in ending the death penalty, stating, "If you can’t fix a system that is going to take somebody’s life, make it the best system you can, then you probably shouldn’t have a law like that. And that’s what Illinois decided and Illinois abolished it," NBC Chicago noted.
