Two days before leaving office, Governor George H. Ryan of Illinois commuted the sentences of every convict waiting on the state's death row, changing the punishment to life imprisonment . "Ryan said he sympathized with the families of the men, women and children who had been murdered, but he felt he had to act. 'I am not prepared to take a risk that we may execute an innocent person,' he wrote in an overnight letter to the victims' families, warning them of his plans," reported the Daily News on January 12, 2003.