Aaron Patterson swept out of Pontiac state prison like a hurricane last Friday, and he barely slept in the next seventy-two hours, choosing a last-ditch lobbying effort over rest and celebration in a furious campaign to win full pardons -- and freedom -- for some of the death row inmates he left behind.

“I made a promise to the guys that I would not stop until every innocent man on death row, and every innocent person in prison, is freed, and I aim to keep that promise,” he says. “And it’s not just about getting innocent people like Ronald Kleiner, Ronald Kitchen or Mario Flores out of prison. It’s about shaking up the whole corrupt system.” Full story.

Listen to the audio report from Free Speech Radio News. Check out Chicago Indymedia contributor Bob Schwartz's backgrounder on the Daley/Devine deal with the 'machinery of death'. Read more on Friday's pardons.

Links and activist sites:

January 15 documentary screening and forum on police torture.

Ryan's speech commuting death sentences: full text

Read the report of the Governor's Commission on Capital Punishment.

Read John Conroy's article about the Patterson case.

Illinois Coalition Against the Death Penalty

Campaign to End the Death Penalty

Murder Victims' Families for Reconciliation