Monday, March 8, 2021

IN LOVING MEMORY OF ASSISTANT WARDEN LOU LOWERY (MARCH 5, 1935 TO MARCH 8, 2016)

            It has been 10 years since Illinois abolished the death penalty on March 9, 2011. It was a sad day for murder victims and their families and a victory for murderers. As we have consistently warned: Once Capital Punishment is abolished, the ACLU (and any Pro Murderer rights Groups) will start abolishing prison sentences next.

       We post this in memory of the late Corrections Officer, Lou Lowery of Pontiac Correctional Center. He warned about the dangers of ending capital punishment in the state.

   

 

Lou Lowery, former assistant warden at Pontiac Correctional Center, said he disagreed with Gov. Pat Quinn’s decision to abolish Illinois’ death penalty.


PONTIAC — Louis O. Lowery, 81, of Pontiac, passed away March 8, 2016, in Pontiac.

His funeral will be at 1 p.m. Saturday at Pontiac Bible Church, Pontiac, with the Rev. Jarrod Bartholomew officiating. Burial will be in South Side Cemetery, Pontiac, where full military rites will be accorded. Visitation will be from 4 to 8 p.m. Friday at the church. The family asks that any donations be made to the Alzheimer's Association, 612 W. Glen Ave., Peoria, IL 61614; Boys & Girls Club of Livingston County, 1303 E. Indiana Ave., Pontiac, IL 61764; or Pontiac Holiday Tournament, c/o Pontiac Township High School, 1110 E. Indiana Ave., Pontiac, IL 61764. Calvert & Martin Funeral Home, Pontiac, is handling the arrangements.

Lou was born March 5, 1935, in Brookport, to Carl and Jessie Lowery. He attended school in Brookport and was the first African-American to graduate from Paducah Junior College, where he was All-American in baseball. Lou served his country in the U.S. Air Force. Upon leaving the Air Force, he played baseball for the minor league of the Pittsburgh Pirates. Lou then began his 38-year career with the State of Illinois Corrections. Most of those years were at the Pontiac Correctional Center, where he worked in many positions until he retired.

Louis was married to Kathryn for 40 years. He left behind his wife, Kathryn, Pontiac; daughters, Denise (Troy Brown) Wesson, South Bend, Ind., and Donna (Greg) Gill, Fort Wayne, Ind.; his son, Louis Nathan (Erin Broerman) Lowery, Pontiac; his grandchildren, LaWanda (Larry) Parker, Alex (Maryori) Wesson, Alexandria (Wilfred) Mkilindi, Robert Malone, Eli Lowery, Lyla Lowery and Shavon Gill; great-grandchildren, Kaylan, Amari, Avianna, Akaila, Arrian, Alina, Ch'Rya and Jayden; many nieces and nephews, including Winfred (Brandy) Garner; Lonny (Beverly) Wade; Lynn McCutcheon; Jan (Chris) Hardy; Natasha Lowery; Shannon, Sherelle and Terrance Wade; Morgan and Tyesha McCutcheon; Madison Burns; cousins, including Caroline Burt and her daughter, Erica; and many friends.

Lou was preceded in death by his parents, Carl and Jessie Lowery; his brother, Russell Lowery; and grandchild, Reanna Malone.

Louis was a member of the Pontiac Bible Church, where he taught Awana and ushered for many years. He enjoyed coaching and playing on community softball and basketball teams. He was an avid sports fan, following the Chicago Cubs, University of Illinois Fighting Illini, PTHS sports, the Pontiac Holiday Tournament, and his grandchildren's sporting events.

Lou had a love for life. He enjoyed sharing stories, a laugh and spending time with his friends and family. He believed in treating everyone fairly. Louis will be greatly missed by his family, former employees, and friends.

This obituary may be viewed and guestbook signed at www.calvertmemorial.com.

https://www.pantagraph.com/news/local/obituaries/louis-lowery/article_a6e9afc9-417c-54d8-b6e6-0251fa3d90d5.html

  

Those who allow violent criminals the opportunity to kill, maim and rape, share the responsibility for it and the tragedy such crimes produce. More, they allow these monsters to create for all of us a world as dark and evil as their own.

‘Quinn made bad decision’

- Former PCC Warden

By Sheila Shelton

Pontiac Daily Leader

Posted Mar 19, 2011 @ 06:46 AM

A former assistant warden at Pontiac Correctional Center believes Governor Pat Quinn made a bad decision in abolishing Illinois’ death penalty.

“I am very upset with the governor’s decision. During my 38 years at PCC I was involved with many Death Row inmates,” Lou Lowery said in an interview with The Daily Leader Friday afternoon. ”I still say a person who did killing(s) deserves to die.”
Lowery said he understands that inmates in Illinois in the past have been in Condemned Units and then been exonerated.

“I am glad that the actual killers were found or it became clear that the person sentenced to death was innocent. Get the innocent people off of Death Row, let them go, but don’t abolish the death sentence and commute the death sentences like Quinn did.”

Lowery said as assistant warden of operations at PCC he had to review condemned unit inmates’ records all the time.

“They couldn’t go on a writ for a court appearance or anywhere else without me having thoroughly studied their records to make certain what kind of danger they could pose to the public or the officers who were accompanying them,” said Lowery. “These are men who have nothing to lose. They have killed before and they will do it again.”

He used as an example the four inmates charged in the murder of PCC Superintendent Robert L. Taylor on Sept. 3, 1987. The four had not previously been sentenced to death.

“They killed Superintendent Taylor right in his office at PCC. All four had previously been convicted of murder. He was stabbed six times, once through the heart and beaten with an iron pipe as he sat at his desk in the South Cellhouse,” said Lowery.

He said it bothers him that the 15 Death Row inmates from PCC could be put back in the general population at the prison. PCC is currently the only correctional center in the state to have a Death Row. All the inmates in it were sentenced to death since former Governor George Ryan placed a moratorium on the death sentence in January 2002.

“The 15 Death Row inmates, here, who had their death sentences commuted to life in prison without the possibility of parole, should not be kept here,” said Lowery. “The state needs to find these men a different place to be housed. They need to be placed elsewhere for staff and security reasons. Long-term sentences don’t deter crime. These inmates will be too familiar with how PCC is run and they will know too many officers and staff.”

Lowery said he was on the writ team that took the last inmate on Death Row at PCC to be executed at Stateville Correctional Center in Joliet.

“He never showed one bit of remorse for the family of the person he killed,” he said. “I even had to be at his execution at Stateville.”

Lowery said he feels especially fearful of the 15 men whose sentences were recently commuted.

“Some of these men were on Death Row for more than one murder. I am not an attorney. But I know what I feel and that is that a life sentence doesn’t mean they won’t escape or kill somebody else,” he said.

http://soldierexecutionerprolifer2008.blogspot.com/2012/12/illinois-prison-wardens-warning-article.html

If the death penalty was not imposed then "wrong really has finally totally triumphed over right and all civilised society, all we hold dear, is the loser." - John Stevens, Baron Stevens of Kirkwhelpington

[PHOTO SOURCE: https://quozio.com/quote/hwwv7bcchftj/1092/if-the-death-penalty-was-not-imposed-then-wrong-really-has]


OTHER LINKS:

http://victimsfamiliesforthedeathpenalty.blogspot.com/2021/03/illinois-murderers-dream-state.html 

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