JURIST - Paper Chase: Illinois ex-governor Ryan transferred from prison to home confinement

[JURIST] Former Illinois governor George Ryan [JURIST news archive] was transferred Wednesday to home confinement to serve the remainder of his six-and-a-half-year prison sentence imposed after several corruption-related convictions in 2006. The ex-governor was originally sent to a Chicago halfway house early Wednesday morning but was released [Chicago Tribune reports] within hours after his arrival. According to the Federal Bureau of Prisons [official website], Ryan did not receive preferred treatment in order to be released to his home, and there is no requirement to spend a minimum amount of time at the halfway house. Rather, the amount of such time is based on the offender's needs, including financial and family support, an approved release residence and health issues. To date, Ryan has completed more than five years of his sentence at the Federal Correctional Institution in Terre Haute, Indiana [BOP backgrounder] for multiple convictions of corruption and fraud in connection with a bribes-for-licenses scandal that occurred during his term as Illinois Secretary of State.

In August the US Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit [official website] upheld [JURIST report] a lower court's denial of a motion submitted by the former Illinois governor seeking his release from prison. In April the US Supreme Court [official website] had ordered the circuit court to reconsider Ryan's appeal in light of Wood v. Milyard [JURIST reports]. Ryan issued his first public apology [JURIST report] in December 2008 for the crimes that resulted in his imprisonment. In November 2007 he was sent to a federal prison to serve a six-and-a-half-year sentence stemming from several convictions of corruption and fraud [JURIST reports]. His trial began [JURIST report] in September 2005.