A former Edwardsville High School athlete and footballer, convicted of the first degree murder of his infant child, is free from prison after his 40-year-sentence was commuted by Gov. JB Pritzker, apparently due to COVID-19 crisis.
Kwayera Jackson, who was 18 when he killed his child in 1998, was released April 10 to Parole District 4, which covers Belleville and East St. Louis, according to inmate records.
Jackson was one of 17 commutations made by Pritzker amid the coronavirus crisis, but critics have accused the governor, and others petitioning for the release of particular inmates, of using the emergency as cover for the moves.
Even before it came to light that Jackson was among those released, several Republican state senators penned a letter to the governor asking him to explain his reasoning, and whether he conferred with law enforcement, members of the judiciary, or victims' relatives prior to issuing the commutations.
According to reports, Pritzker commuted the sentences of 17 prisoners since March 11, including seven people convicted of murder. The names are included in a spreadsheet that lists a total of 761 inmates released early due to COVID-17, or coronavirus.
"There is a distinct difference between working with parole officers and local law enforcement to furlough prisoners at risk from the coronavirus to commuting sentences for violent inmates, including murderers," said State Sen. Jason Plummer (R-Edwardsville), one of the signatories of the letter.
"This is non-transparent, giving commutations to murderers, violent criminals, without talking to law enforcement, to judges. The governor is not answering any questions."
Pritizker, in press conferences, has not directly answered questions relating to the commutations.
Plummer said he was not objecting to the release on furlough of prisoners in state facilities, which the state senator said was a major concern. Stateville Correctional Center in Crest Hill reported last week 107 staff and 146 inmates had contracted the virus, with five dead.
"But this is not a temporary furlough, and it is being done without communication with interested parties," Plummer said. "I do not know the reasons for what the governor is doing, but I would think at a time of national crisis, time and energy could be spent on more important things than commuting sentences."
A conference call involving several senators - including Plummer and Sen. Rachelle Crowe (D-Glen Carbon) - was held Friday to discuss, among other issues, the commutations.
“Considering the contagious nature of COVID-19, I can empathize with health concerns for the prisoner population," said Sen. Crowe. "But using this pandemic as an excuse to release violent criminals is something that I as a former prosecutor am firmly opposed to.”
One criminal justice advocate, who has seen the data on the released prisoners, told the Edwardsville Intelligencer, that the bulk of those in the larger list had nearly completed their sentences and were not a danger to the community.
“To find out whether or not this is a good thing to do, you have to look at the facts of the offense and what this person has done since then,” said Alan Mills, executive director of the Uptown People’s Law Center In Chicago. “They are not just releasing people wholesale.”
Behind bars since 1998, after being sentenced to 40 years in 2000, Jackson was convicted by a jury of murdering his five-month-old son, Keyonte.
He and his supporters have always maintained that he did not deliberately kill the child, that the injuries were caused by him performing exercises with the child, something he read about in a magazine article.
"This included, but was not limited to, attempting to strengthen his son’s abdominal muscles. It was these exercises in particular that would ultimately contribute to the death of five month-old, Keyonte Jackson," according to an online posting on a site linked to Jackson's name.
Jackson admits that his actions led to the child's death, but claims he should have been charged and be judged guilty of involuntary manslaughter.