George Ryan begins serving prison sentence

 

 

By Robert Imrie

OXFORD, Wis. – Former Illinois Gov. George Ryan avoided the media but not the inevitable Wednesday as he entered a federal prison to begin serving a 6 1/2-year corruption sentence.

Life will be far different for the pharmacist-turned-politician as he trades in his civilian attire for the Wisconsin prison’s standard issue clothing – a tan shirt and pants, white socks and steel-toed shoes.

“The hardest adjustment for anybody, not just a 73-year-old, is the separation of the family. That is the toughest. You are basically told when to eat, when the lights go out,” said Mike Truman, a spokesman for the Federal Bureau of Prisons in Washington, D.C. “You are told what to do. Your life is structured.”

The Republican entered the federal correctional center about noon, Bureau of Prisons spokeswoman Felicia Ponce said. He had left home in Kankakee, Ill., early in the morning, making one coffee stop in Chicago to pick up his lawyer and longtime friend, former Gov. James Thompson.

Ryan managed to avoid a throng of media awaiting his arrival at the prison’s main entrance as he joined more than 200 other inmates at the minimum-security camp in central Wisconsin.

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Oxford prison spokeswoman Christine Montonna said Ryan was “a high-profile inmate” and prison officials brought him in a back way to protect him and maintain order at the prison.

“We felt it was a security step that we had to take,” Montonna said when asked whether Ryan had received special treatment. She did not specify what, if any, danger Ryan might have faced.

Ryan, who gained international acclaim for his opposition to the death penalty, has said he will continue fighting to clear his name, even while sitting in prison.

“Tomorrow I embark on a new journey in my life,” he said Tuesday night surrounded by family and friends at his home. “I do so with a firm faith in God and the support and faith of my family.”

Ryan was convicted in April 2006 of steering contracts, tax fraud, misuse of tax dollars and state workers, and killing a bribery investigation. Elected governor in 1998, after serving as secretary of state, he was in office only a few weeks before the federal investigation became public. He served only one term.

Ryan had hoped to remain free on bond while he appealed his convictions to the U.S. Supreme Court. But the snowy haired, husky voiced father of six lost his final bid to delay his prison term when U.S. Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens turned down his request to remain free on bail.

The camp is in a rural area about 60 miles north of Madison. It has four wings, each with 13 rooms that house four inmates apiece, much like a military barracks, Truman said.

The former governor was told to arrive empty-handed.

“He doesn’t need anything,” Truman said. Ryan was to be fingerprinted, photographed and eventually given prison garb.

Ryan’s day will start by 7:30 a.m. and end no later than 11:30 p.m. His chores typically will include mopping floors, cleaning toilets, raking leaves, cutting grass, painting and shoveling snow, Truman said. He’s likely to begin working by the end of the week.

Ryan was convicted of steering big-money state contracts and leases to co-defendant Larry Warner and other friends in exchange for items ranging from trips to Jamaica to a free golf bag. He also was convicted of tax fraud and using tax dollars and state employees to operate his political campaigns for more than a decade.

And he was convicted of killing an investigation of bribes paid in exchange for driver’s licenses when he was Illinois secretary of state. Prosecutors have traced $170,000 of the bribe money to his campaign fund.

A fiery 1994 auto wreck in Wisconsin exposed the driver’s license scheme. The evidence suggests an unqualified driver was behind the wheel of a truck that lost a tail light and mud flap on a busy interstate. A van hit the part and burst into flames. Six children burned to death.

Ryan dismissed state agents looking into how the driver got his license and replaced them with a family friend who later pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice and covering up scandals to spare Ryan embarrassment.

Ryan on Tuesday thanked supporters and acknowledged the controversy surrounding his tenure.

“To the people of Illinois, I’m not blind to the sentiment that some hold, but I want you to know that I did my best,” he said.

Associated Press Writer Carla K. Johnson contributed to this report