Kolb transferred to Dwight prison

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By Barb Ickes | Wednesday, September 13, 2006 1:18 AM CDT | () comments

Convicted murderer Sarah Kolb is in the custody of the Illinois Department of Corrections where officials are deciding where the teenager will spend nearly the next five decades.

The 18-year-old was transferred to state custody last week — more than 19 months after she was first arrested in Rock Island County and charged with the murder of 16-year-old Adrianne Reynolds. Kolb was transferred to the Dwight Correctional Center, about 140 miles east of the Quad-Cities, nine days after her sentencing.

Reynolds would have turned 18 years old Tuesday.

Corrections officials have said it is likely Kolb will be assigned to serve her 48-year

murder sentence at Dwight. She also was sentenced to five years for concealing the Jan. 21, 2005, murder of the East Moline girl.

Dwight is the state’s only maximum-security prison for women.

The two other women’s prisons are at Decatur and Lincoln and are medium security.

The Department of Corrections’ Web site lists vital statistics for Kolb, including the existence of tattoos on her wrist and ankle and piercings of her tongue, eyebrows and nipples.

“She’ll probably be offered some classes,” corrections spokesman Derek Schnapp said Tuesday. “She doesn’t have to (accept).

“You can’t make them. She’ll probably get a work assignment.”

He said that the nature of the crime is not likely to affect Kolb’s standing at Dwight. A first-degree murder conviction does not necessarily lead to restrictions regarding classes, training and other activities that are available in prison.

As part of the reception and classification process for all inmates at Dwight, Schnapp said, officials consider whether the individual might benefit from counseling, anger management or educational programs. He could not comment specifically on what assignments Kolb is likely to face, saying inmates’ records are private.

Kolb’s move to the Rock Island County Jail from the Mary Davis Juvenile Detention Center in Galesburg, Ill., was delayed after her 17th birthday in April 2005 because a judge allowed her to remain there while finishing classes. Juvenile inmates typically are transferred to state custody upon turning 17.

Rock Island County State’s Attorney Jeff Terronez said Kolb was taking high school completion classes at Mary Davis but was not sure whether she received her general equivalency diploma, or GED.

He said that jail officials maintain such records, but no one was available at the jail Tuesday to comment. Schnapp said that Kolb will be allowed to earn her GED at Dwight if she has not already done so.

She was convicted in February in a change-of-venue retrial in Dixon, Ill., in the strangulation murder of Reynolds, which occurred in Kolb’s car. Her first trial ended in a mistrial after jurors voted 11-1 in favor of conviction.

She also was convicted of helping conceal Reynolds’ remains, which were burned, cut into seven pieces and hidden in two counties.

Her co-defendant, Cory Gregory, also 18, of Moline, has been in state custody since July 13 — three days after he was sentenced to 40 years for murder and five years for concealing Reynolds’ homicide. He has been placed at the Menard Correctional Center.

Gregory pleaded guilty to the murder but has since asked to withdraw the plea. The status of that motion is pending.

Barb Ickes can be contacted at (563) 383-2316 or bickes@qctimes.com.