凍結 天然氣 火車

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Blagojevich reportedly bound for Colorado prison

By Annie Sweeney and Andy Grimm, Chicago Tribune reporters

10:03 p.m. CST, February 14, 2012

Former Gov. Rod Blagojevich will serve his 14-year sentence at a federal prison in Colorado as he had sought, sources said Tuesday.

Blagojevich, who is due to report to prison by March 15, received word from federal prison officials in recent days that he will be assigned to a low-security prison near the Denver suburb of Littleton in the foothills of the Colorado Rockies, the sources said.

U.S. District Judge James Zagel, who sentenced the former governor in December, agreed to recommend to prison officials that Blagojevich do his time at the Colorado prison, known as Federal Correctional Institution Englewood.

The former governor hopes to enroll in a substance-abuse program at the prison, which could shave up to a year off his sentence.

Blagojevich's legal team had requested that he be sent to Englewood, which has a reputation for being less crowded and violent than other facilities in the federal system. There also is an adjacent work camp, which offers more freedom of movement for prisoners and which Blagojevich could transfer to at some point while serving out his sentence.

Local political figures familiar with the federal prison system were divided on the wisdom of Blagojevich's choice. Lawrence Warner, a co-defendant of Blagojevich's predecessor, convicted Gov. George Ryan, served most of his 18-month sentence at the work camp at Englewood.

Englewood gets high marks from inmates for its location. The area is surrounded by lakes and golf courses, and the more than 300-acre compound is wooded and filled with wildlife, all framed by distant Rocky Mountains, Warner said.

But only inmates of the camp get to enjoy the majestic setting, he pointed out. Inmates in the low-security prison, which was built in the 1930s, don't get to work on the grounds as the camp inmates do. Their time outdoors is limited to an hour or so per day.

"When I was there, I saw eagles, I saw coyotes. It was just beautiful," Warner said. "He's not going to get that. He's going to see it maybe through a window or the prison yard.

"I don't know why he wanted to go to (the prison) at Englewood. There are prisons in the system that are newer and nicer." [Sounds like he is going on a government paid vacation???]

Perhaps more important, unlike many prisons, Englewood is in the suburbs of a major city — and a major airport, with more frequent, affordable flights than a penitentiary in a remote, rural setting, said Scott Fawell, another Ryan co-defendant.

Fawell requested assignment to a federal prison in Yankton, S.D., spending most of his 52-month sentence there, along with shorter stints at prisons in Terre Haute and the spartan Metropolitan Correctional Center in downtown Chicago.

"I've seen a bit of what the federal prison system has to offer," Fawell said. "Most of the guys I knew (that were familiar with Englewood) said it was nice.

"It beats being in the middle of cornfields. Most places where they build prisons are not nice. They're (dumps)."

Fawell said his wife spent more than $20,000 on travel to and from Yankton, which typically included a flight into Omaha, a car rental, a two-hour drive to Yankton and an overnight hotel stay. Littleton, just south of Denver, would be far easier to get to for Blagojevich's family.

"If I'd had it to do over, maybe I would have stayed there. But I didn't even know where Yankton was. I didn't do much research," Fawell said. "I assume (Blagojevich) did his research."

Blagojevich's preference for Englewood, and the duration of his sentence, might be a hint that the former governor's family is considering moving from their Ravenswood home to Littleton, Fawell suggested. The area is far more cosmopolitan than most prison towns, with decent schools.

"When you're going away as long as he is, that would be something to think about," Fawell said.

The flamboyant former governor will become the most famous resident, though Englewood also houses disgraced Enron executive Jeffrey Skilling. Prison staff tend to take a hard line with high-profile inmates, especially early in their sentences, Fawell said. Being in an area where the staff will know less about him might mean he gets a little kinder treatment, Fawell said.

Getting his wife, Patti, and two daughters away from the media scrutiny in Chicago might also be better for the Blagojevich family, Fawell said.

"But you never get away from Chicago media entirely," Fawell said. "The problem is ... there's always someone in with you from Chicago, and no one really cares what's on TV at noon, so someone always puts on the WGN news at noon."

asweeney@tribune.com

agrimm@tribune.com

Prison Inmate 40892-424 - That's Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich

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Blagojevich to speak before heading to prison

Associated Press

7:22 a.m. CST, March 8, 2012

Rod Blagojevich plans to make a public statement in person before he reports to federal prison for his 14-year sentence on corruption charges, his spokesman said Wednesday.

Glenn Selig told The Associated Press that the 55-year-old impeached governor won't slip out of Chicago and will speak before cameras here days before he reports to a federal prison March 15. He declined to offer details, including what Blagojevich might say or on what day.

Since his December sentencing for corruption, Blagojevich hasn't granted interviews. His attorneys have said he wants to enter prison in a dignified way, without any media frenzy. That's fueled speculation he could try to leave Chicago days in advance without comment. But Selig says Blagojevich never intended to do that.

“The governor has always taken things head on and never tried to circumvent anything,” he said. Selig added that he hopes reporters will give Blagojevich some privacy to bid a final farewell to his wife and two young daughters.

Blagojevich asked if he could serve his sentence at the Federal Correctional Institution Englewood in Colorado, and a judge made that recommendation. It's widely believed that is where he is headed, but prison officials won't confirm that, citing security issues.

While authorities haven't confirmed where Blagojevich is bound, they have assigned him a prison number. It is 40892-424 — eight digits that will likely be affixed to his prison garb.

A judge in December handed Blagojevich a stiff, 14-year sentence. Jurors convicted him over two trials on 18 corruption counts, including charges he tried to sell or trade the U.S. Senate seat vacated by President Barack Obama.

Famously gabby as governor and even during his legal proceedings, Blagojevich has been unusually tight-lipped in recent months. On Tuesday, he did make a brief comment to Fox News Chicago TV cameras as he left home for a jog. He appeared subdued as he spoke, stretching as he warmed up in a blue jogging suit.

“As bad as things are now, for us as a family, I've been blessed to have two precious daughters, a wonderful wife who is a wonderful mother,” Blagojevich said. “We're just going to get through these real hard times together.”

When a neighbor passed and wished him well, Blagojevich responded, saying, “It's going to end up in the right place.” He didn't explain what he meant.

Blagojevich leaves home in predawn dark for Colorado prison

Blagojevich leaves home in predawn dark for Colorado prison

Staff and Tribune wire services

7:30 a.m. CDT, March 15, 2012

Amid a crush of media and well-wishers, ousted Gov. Rod Blagojevich left his Ravenswood Manor home on the North Side early this morning for a prison cell in Colorado.

Wearing a dark blazer and shirt with blue jeans, Blagojevich sauntered down the stairs and into the tight circle of reporters camped outside his home around 6 a.m. Neither his wife Patti nor his daughters were with him.

Reporters shouted out questions as he walked toward a waiting Chrysler sedan. "You are the best," someone yelled. In a few moments, the crowd quieted down and Blagojevich made a brief statement.

"Saying goodbye is the hardest thing I've ever had to do," he said. "I'm leaving with a heavy heart, a clear conscious, but I have high, high hopes for the future. Among the hopes is that you guys go home and our neighbors can get their neighborhood back. I'll see you guys when I see ya. I'll see you around."

Then he got into the car and it pulled away, the former governor waving through the back window.

With television helicopters in tow, Blagojevich headed off to O'Hare International Airport for a flight to Colorado, where he will begin serving a 14-year sentence as federal inmate 40892-424.

The Chrysler pulled up to the American Airlines terminal and Blagojevich got out and was met by someone with two copies of his book, which he signed. Then he headed for the doors of the terminal.

"I better get on the plane, I don't think they're going to hold it for me," he told reporters.

Once in his seat, he was approached by a Fox News reporter who was also on the flight. Asked for his thoughts, Blagojevich said: "I appreciate the outpouring of kindness that people have shown. . .God has a purpose for all things."

The one-time golden boy of Illinois politics with a penchant for television cameras is expected to report to a Colorado prison by 2 p.m. to begin his prison term on corruption charges, marking the state's second governor in a row to be sent to prison for corruption.

Jurors convicted Blagojevich on 18 counts, including charges that he tried to sell or trade President Barack Obama's old U.S. Senate seat. FBI wiretaps revealed a fouled-mouth Blagojevich describing the opportunity to exchange an appointment to the seat for campaign cash or a top job as “f------ golden.”

The famously talkative Democrat embraced the public spotlight one last time Wednesday evening, seeming to relish the attention of reporters' microphones and hovering television helicopters as he expressed faith he would successfully appeal his convictions. The one-time reality show contestant claimed he always believed what he did while governor was legal.

“While my faith in things has sometimes been challenged, I still believe this is America, this is a country that is governed by the rule of law, that the truth ultimately will prevail,” Blagojevich told the crowd outside his Chicago home. “As bad as it is, (this) is the beginning of another part of a long and hard journey that will only get worse before it gets better, but … this is not over.”

The 55-year-old married father requested the Federal Correctional Institution Englewood in suburban Denver. Although a minimum-security facility, it looks every bit a prison: stone buildings are institutional beige, the grounds encircled by high razor-wire fencing. Blagojevich, leaving behind his wife and two daughters in the family's spacious Chicago home, will share a cell the size of a large, walk-in closet with up to three inmates.

The prison has a few other high-profile inmates, including Jeff Skilling, the former CEO and president of Enron who is serving a 24-year sentence for fraud and other crimes. But most of the facility's nearly 1,000 inmates are there for drug offences, and some could be in for violent crimes including murder, said U.S. Bureau of Prisons spokesman Chris Burke.

Inside, Blagojevich's life will be strictly regimented. The impeached governor — who was heard on the FBI wiretaps scoffing at the idea of earning a low six-figure salary — will work a menial prison job, possibly cleaning bathrooms or doing landscape work, starting at 12 cents an hour.

Guards take a half dozen head counts a day, including several overnight, and Blagojevich will be told what to do rather than give orders to sycophant aides, as he did while Illinois' top executive.

“He's going to be doing a lot of, `yes sir' and `no sir,“’ said Jim Laski, a former Chicago city clerk sentenced to two years in prison for corruption in 2006. “It's a humbling, humiliating experience. But you have to take it.”

Blagojevich's fame outside won't do him any good inside, explained Jim Marcus, a Chicago-based defense attorney and former prosecutor.

“You say you were once the governor of Illinois — no one gives hoot,” Marcus said. “Prisoners are going to say, `You're in the same boat as me, pal. Now go clean the toilettes.“’

Perhaps some good news for Blagojevich is that he won't have to shave off his trademark thick hair, though maintenance may pose challenges. Hair dryers, for instance, are prohibited.

To cope in prison, ex-cons say, Blagojevich must master unwritten prison codes. Among them: Never gaze at other inmates for longer than a second or two, least they take the stares as a sign of aggression.

“Above all, remember that the normal rules of the outside world simply don't apply any longer,” according to an entry on the WikiHow website written by former federal inmates. “When you're in prison, you're living on a different planet.”

But the most difficult change undoubtedly will be living without his wife, Patti, and their daughters, 15-year-old Amy and 8-year-old Anne. In prison, his contact with them will be limited to a few times a month and, when they do see each other, Blagojevich will be able to hug and kiss them once at the start of the visit and once at the end.

On all the other days he'll have another fight: boredom.

Under federal rules, inmates must serve at least 85 percent of their terms before becoming eligible for early release. That's nearly 12 years for Blagojevich, though his term could be reduced if he successfully enters a substance-abuse rehabilitation program, which his lawyers requested and the sentencing judge recommended without explanation.

He could read or play pool in a game room. The avid runner could jog, but only on a prison track for the limited time he's allow into the main yard. Internet access is prohibited, as are cellphones.

A law graduate, he could head to the prison library to research his case. He and his attorney are appealing both the lengthy 14-year sentence and his convictions.

“After the initial fear of the first days, boredom is the main enemy,” said Marcus, the defense attorney. “Getting up at the same time, eating, working, sleeping at the same time … that's what gets to so many inmates, and Blagojevich is in for such a long time.”

Blagojevich defends actions on way to prison

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Blagojevich defends actions on way to prison

Reuters

By Andrew Stern

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich on Wednesday used his final public appearance before reporting to prison to defend his political actions and express confidence that his conviction on federal corruption charges will ultimately be overturned.

Blagojevich called his looming 14-year prison sentence, which starts on Thursday, a "dark and hard journey," but said he would draw strength from his belief that he had "helped real, ordinary people" during his years in office.

"We still have faith in the future," Blagojevich told the crowd of about 300 people who gathered outside his home on Chicago's north side to hear his final statement, which was timed precisely to coincide with 5 p.m. local time news shows.

"We are appealing the case," Blagojevich said with his tearful wife Patti at his side. "We have great trust and faith in the appeal and while my faith in things has sometimes been challenged, I still believe this is America, this is a country that is governed by the rule of law," he said.

Blagojevich was arrested in his north side home by FBI on the morning of December 9, 2008 on political corruption charges, including an allegation that he conspired to sell the Senate seat vacated by President Barack Obama in return for political favors and donations.

Three years and two trials later, Blagojevich was convicted of political corruption and U.S. District Court Judge James Zagel sentenced the two-term governor and father of two daughters to 14 years in prison for corruption.

Throughout the trials, Blagojevich refused to apologize for his actions, even launching a publicity campaign on national talk shows to declare his innocence. Only at his sentencing in December 2011 did he finally apologize but Zagel said it was too late.

Assigned prisoner number 40892-424, Blagojevich, 55, is scheduled to surrender on Thursday and will be at a prison in Colorado.

The imprisonment of Blagojevich, a Democrat, means the last two Illinois governors will be behind bars, and he becomes the fourth governor in the state to be convicted of crimes since the 1960s. His Republican predecessor George Ryan is also in prison.

AIDE'S SUICIDE

Dozens more underlings have been convicted in federal corruption investigations. One of Blagojevich's aides, Christopher Kelly, committed suicide in 2009 before going to prison, saying that prosecutors had pressed him to cooperate in the case against his former boss.

Northwestern University law professor Ronald Allen has called the corrupt practices in Illinois "a hideous bog" that never seemed to dry up.

When Blagojevich and a top aide were charged, local U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald said authorities had halted a potential crime spree that would have made Illinois native Abraham Lincoln "roll over in his grave."

At the end of his first trial in August 2009, a single juror held out and refused to convict Blagojevich on the bulk of the counts, and a mistrial was declared on all but one count of lying to investigators.

At his second trial, with his campaign fund exhausted and his eloquent defense lawyer Sam Adam, Jr., declining to continue on the case, Blagojevich was found guilty of 17 of 20 counts by the jury of 11 women and one man.

They acquitted him of a single bribery count and deadlocked on two other counts, one related to a school grant sought by then-U.S. Representative Rahm Emanuel, later Obama's chief of staff and now Chicago's mayor.

The first Democrat elected Illinois governor in 30 years, Blagojevich eventually alienated Illinois lawmakers, passing out largesse while the state's finances suffered.

His popularity sank to unprecedented lows during his second term, and Blagojevich was heard on the FBI tape-recordings profanely pushing aides to trade the Senate seat for a well-paid position for him because he despised being governor.

At one point on the tapes Blagojevich cursed Obama for taking away his own chance at higher office, showing the now-disgraced Blagojevich once had loftier aspirations.

(Writing by James B. Kelleher; Editing by Greg McCune; Desking by Cynthia Osterman)

Rod Blagojevich enters federal prison in Colorado

Rod Blagojevich enters federal prison in Colorado to start 14-year sentence

By Annie Sweeney, Chicago Tribune reporter

12:07 a.m. CDT, March 16, 2012

JEFFERSON COUNTY, Colo.— — After a goodbye tour that stretched from Chicago's Ravenswood Manor neighborhood to the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, Rod Blagojevich turned, waved and disappeared Thursday behind a darkened doorway of a federal prison.

Inside Federal Correctional Institution-Englewood, change came in an instant as Blagojevich left his media entourage and the hovering helicopters behind to start an afternoon intake that involved a strip search and mental evaluation.

Any glamour or rock-star quality Blagojevich carried into the low-security prison will wear off quickly, those who have made the transition say. Now his reality is a strict, dreary regimen and fellow inmates who don't always suffer fools.

"You are just left with some serious, deep, inner contemplation," said Peter Ninemire, a former Englewood inmate who is now an addiction therapist. "He's all alone. Truly he is. He's going to have some coming down."

Blagojevich's final days of freedom played out in dramatic fashion, fitting for a saga that over the last 3 1/2 years saw him arrested, impeached, tried, convicted and sentenced to 14 years in prison.

The end of the odyssey began Wednesday outside his Northwest Side home as Blagojevich delivered a campaign-style speech to hundreds of supporters and onlookers shortly after 5 p.m. so local TV stations could carry the spectacle live.

On Thursday, virtually every step he took from his home to the suburban Denver prison was chronicled by a gaggle of reporters. As he stepped from his house about 6 a.m., he told a crowd of people that saying goodbye to wife Patti and his two daughters was the toughest thing he had ever done. He ended his address with "I'll see you around," and he got into a waiting car.

At O'Hare International Airport, he signed autographs and posed for photos. Even aboard the jet, he fielded questions from reporters who made the commercial flight with him. He stopped to answer more questions at the Denver airport.

Then as he rode with two of his attorneys in a black SUV to the prison 15 miles southwest of Denver, a camera-toting helicopter tracked his movement and the image streamed live on TV websites.

Reporters — and some gawkers — gathered on a street across from the prison, listening for updates from news crews as the whir of the helicopter approached. But his entourage — several media followed in their own rented vehicles — drove by the prison without stopping. At one point they seemed to get lost, pulling into a parking a lot and back out. As he neared the prison again, the tension mounted — would he stop?

Instead he went for lunch at Freddy's Frozen Custard & Steakburgers. For his last meal outside prison, Blagojevich ordered a double patty melt with fries and a soda, although he ate little or none of the food, said general manager Josh Andreakos.

A short time later, the SUV returned to the prison, passing the waiting media, the only time on this day that Blagojevich ignored a reporter. Moments later, he walked into the prison with his attorneys by his side.

Chris Burke, a spokesman for the U.S. Bureau of Prisons in Washington, said that all incoming inmates go through the same screening, including a strip search, a sit-down with a psychologist, paperwork processing and a cell assignment.

Inmates can't keep any possessions they bring in except for a plain wedding band.

Scott Fawell, a top aide of convicted former Gov. George Ryan who himself served more than 4 years in a federal prison camp, said intake took about four hours. And it started in a manner that might be challenging for the former governor — waiting for about 30 minutes alone.

"It's an isolation game right out of the box," Fawell said. "It gives you time to think. They want to see, especially guys like Rod who it is the first time, how they handle the stress. How are you taking the fact that you are now in prison?"

Fawell said Blagojevich's first interaction with inmates would likely come at dinner.

"That's when you look out and there will be 200 or 300 faces," he said. "You better not just plop yourself down. If you want to sit at a table, you better ask."

Ultimately, Blagojevich will have a choice to make — to either remain angry or strip away his ego, said Ninemire, who served nearly 10 years at Englewood on a marijuana conviction.

Blagojevich can either "focus on all the things you can't have and can't do," Ninemire said. "Or journey inward. … Prison should be about a coming-home process. We got lost along the way."

asweeney@tribune.com

Barber: Blagojevich soon gray in dye-free prison

Barber: Blagojevich soon gray in dye-free prison

by Michael Tarm - Mar. 21, 2012 04:46 PM

Associated Press

CHICAGO -- It may be hard to imagine Rod Blagojevich looking anything but boyish in his trademark dark, helmet hair. But his longtime barber said Wednesday that the former Illinois governor has been dyeing his hair for years and now that he is in prison -- where dyes are banned -- it will soon turn gray.

Peter Vodovoz, Blagojevich's Chicago-area barber for two decades, told The Associated Press the 55-year-old has dyed his hair himself, but with no dye available at his lockup, the last color masking his gray will fade within three months.

"His hair will turn gray, like Jay Leno's," Vodovoz said, speaking a week after Blagojevich entered a federal prison outside Denver to serve his sentence on corruption charges.

Hair dyes are strictly banned in the Federal Correctional Institution Englewood because inmates could use them to disguise their appearance in attempted escapes, prison spokesman John Sell said.

Vodovoz, who last cut Blagojevich's hair a month ago, offered his prison-bound client advice he may have difficulty taking: He told him not to fret about his hair behind bars because no cameras will be around to document his changed appearance.

"'There's no media, so don't worry,' I told him," he said. "Who's going to care?"

The two-term governor was closely identified with and parodied for his thick helmet of hair. A comedian on Saturday Night Live once joked that when FBI agents came to arrest him in 2008, Blagojevich asked for five minutes to pack his things -- and for eight hours to comb his hair.

In reality, so obsessive was he about ensuring every strand of hair was in place, Blagojevich famously had a security official carry around a hair brush everywhere he went when he was governor.

And some in the disgraced politician's dwindling fan base remained awed by his hair. After he gave a parting farewell statement outside his house a day before walking through the prison gates, one woman in a crowd of well-wishers reached out to caress his hair.

But it's not all bad hair news for Blagojevich.

Prison rules do allow him to wear it at whatever length and in whatever style he wants -- though barbers available to him in prison likely won't take the same care as Vodovoz.

The barber, a 48-year-old who emigrated from the Soviet Union in 1990, spoke admiringly of Blagojevich's hair as the thickest of man in his 50s he's ever seen and said he'll miss cutting it. Then he added that he thought Blagojevich's 14-year sentence was far too harsh.

"In the Soviet Union, you have to kill someone to get a sentence like that," Vodovoz said in a thick Russian accent. "Blagojevich should have been given community service or something. Now, his life is destroyed. His children's' life is destroyed."

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Follow Michael Tarm on Twitter at www.twitter.com/mtarm

Here are some prior articles on that crooked Illnois governor Rod Blagojevich.