Ryan wins switch to cozy Wisconsin prison
Former Gov. George Ryan got some good news Friday.
Not great news, but good news.
The U.S. Bureau of Prisons agreed to let him serve his 6½-year sentence in Oxford, Wis. -- closer to his Kankakee home than the prison in Duluth, Minn., where the bureau had initially assigned him.
Was it because bed space opened up there in the year and a half Ryan has been out on bail while he appeals his case? The bureau didn't say. Ryan did not tell his lawyer, former Gov. Jim Thompson, whether the news had improved his mood as he awaits word from the U.S. Supreme Court about whether they will take his appeal.
"He just told me he had gotten the letter," Thompson said. "He didn't have any comment one way or the other."
Unless U.S. Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens grants Ryan yet another extension of his bail in the next few days, Ryan must report to Oxford on Wednesday.
At Oxford, Ryan will be in the company of one of his former campaign contributors, former Near North Insurance magnate Michael Segal; as well as former city Water Dept. boss Donald Tomczak; and the more recently convicted City Hall patronage lieutenant Tim McCarthy.
Because of its relaxed, minimum-security setting and proximity, Oxford has long been the favored destination of Chicago politicians.
Former U.S. Rep. Dan Rostenkowski (D-Chicago) served his time at Oxford and jokingly refers to it as "university."
The switch to Oxford spares Ryan the colder, snowier and, as told by former Gov. Dan Walker, harsher disciplinary atmosphere at Duluth.