SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (WAND) — Gov. JB Pritzker says he is open to listening to changes to the SAFE-T Act after a man with a long criminal record was charged with setting a CTA passenger on fire last week. Republican lawmakers and sheriffs argue it is past time for reform.
The man who set 26-year-old Bethany MaGee on fire was released on electronic monitoring this summer after allegedly attacking a hospital employee. However, court records show police have arrested 50-year-old Lawrence Reed more than 70 times, leading many to argue he should have been kept behind bars before trial.
Pritzker told reporters in Skokie on Friday that the SAFE-T Act is designed to give judges the ability to keep people in jail if they are a danger to the community.
"It is the judgment of those elected judges that ultimately determines in most cases whether somebody is released or not," Pritzker said.
This also comes three months after a stabbing left a Decatur mother dead and her two children injured. Latonian Johnson had an extensive history of domestic violence and was out on pretrial release for domestic battery charges before he stabbed Dawnette Sigmon to death.
"It almost seems as though this is the criminal SAFE-T Act and that they don't care about the victims," said Rep. John Cabello (R-Machesney Park). "They don't care about the general public, and it's really coming to show."
Republican lawmakers have filed multiple bills to repeal the SAFE-T Act. Although Cabello and other members of the House GOP caucus with law enforcement experience have also suggested amendments that would require anyone charged with domestic violence or sex offenses to be detained.
"Sometimes bills get passed, and everybody that votes for it knows that there needs to be a trailer bill or a tweak that needs to be made afterward," Pritzker said. "So, I think everybody is open to listening to what changes might need to be made."
Kankakee County Sheriff Mike Downey told WAND News trailer bills passed before Illinois eliminated cash bail were political duct tape over a law that was collapsing under its own weight. Downey said jails have turned into revolving door facilities while police arrest and re-arrest as responsibility, accountability and community safety go out the window.
"Illinois doesn't need more tinkering, clarifying, or re-wording," Downey said. "It needs a reset — a moral and practical acknowledgement that the SAFE-T Act's detention scheme is beyond saving."
Cabello said he is willing to negotiate changes to the law, but he stressed the governor must be serious.
"They need to have us at the table because obviously what they've done, they need to live with," Cabello said. "It's time that the public starts holding them accountable for it."
Downey said sheriffs across the state are willing, able and ready to help Pritzker and lawmakers with tweaks to the law as well.
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