[JURIST] Former Connecticut governor John G. Rowland [archived official website; JURIST news archive] was released from federal prison Friday after serving ten months of a one year sentence [JURIST report] he received after pleading guilty to corruption charges [JURIST report] in December 2004. In his plea agreement, Rowland admitted to accepting more than $100,000 in illegal gifts from state contractors. In response to the corruption scandal at the highest level of state government, the Connecticut legislature in December last year passed tough new campaign finance legislation [JURIST report] strictly limiting state campaign contributions and set up a public campaign finance oversight system. The Danbury News Times has more.