It's the first time we've heard former Gov. George Ryan's voice since he went to prison on corruption charges.
NBCChicago filed a freedom of information request for the tape of a 2010 deposition Ryan gave in connection with a lawsuit.
Ryan speaks at length about what led to his ground-breaking decision to commute the sentences of 167 inmates on death row. He said the case of Anthony Porter -- a man who spent 15 years on death row even though he was innocent -- caused him to look more closely at the issue.
"How many innocent people were sitting on death row facing death? That was my concern and the reason that I did what I did. I didn't want to see any innocent people electrocuted," Ryan said during the deposition.
Ryan also spoke about being swayed by meetings with the families of inmates, including a high school friend from his hometown of Kankakee whose son was on death row. He also recalled meeting with families of the victims who "threw stuff at me when I stood on the podium and swore at me, and you know, called me all kinds of names when I hadn't really made up my mind."
Ryan said commuting all of the death row sentences was the right thing to do, instead of taking a chance that one innocent person would die.
"I'm not going to wake up six months after I leave office and say, that guy got killed, and I could have saved him and didn't," Ryan said.
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The deposition was for a civil case involving a person pardoned by Ryan when he was governor.
Ryan is serving a six and a half year prison sentence after being convicted of numerous corruption charges.
