Blanket clemency is clemency granted to multiple persons and can be in the form of a pardon, shortening of a prison sentence, or a commutation of a sentence, or a reprieve. Most states' governors and the President of the United States have the power to grant clemency; In other states, that power is committed to an appointed agency or board, or to a board and the governor in some hybrid arrangement. Retiring Governor George Ryan

George Ryan

George Homer Ryan, Sr. was the 39th Governor of the U.S. state of Illinois from 1999 until 2003. He is a member of the Republican Party. Ryan became nationally known when in 2000 he imposed a moratorium on executions and "raised the national debate on capital punishment"...

 of Illinois

Illinois

Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...

issued a blanket clemency to all death row inmates after special clemency hearings in January 2003.