*** UPDATE 1 *** Tribune…
Former Gov. George Ryan has already been released from the halfway house on Chicago’s West Side and will be confined at his Kankakee home until he completes his 6 ½-year sentence, according to his lawyer, former Gov. Jim Thompson.
Thompson said Ryan found out about the decision by the Bureau of Prison early this morning as he was being released from a federal prison camp in Terre Haute, Ind.
Ryan will not have to wear electronic monitors while under house arrest at his home, said Thompson, who wasn’t sure if Ryan, soon to be 79, would work.
Bureau of Prison spokesman Chris Burke said today Ryan did not receive special treatment in order to be released to home confinement.
Sun-Times…
Speaking from Ryan’s living room, his attorney Jim Thompson said Ryan was beaming and surrounded by his smiling grandchildren
“If you could see his and his grandkids’ smiling faces,” Thompson, himself a former governor, said by phone from Ryan’s home. “He is surrounded by happy faces.”
Ed Ross, a spokesman with the U.S. Bureau of Prisons in Washington D.C., said such quick a release, though, is not uncommon.
Ross said it was “very common” for elderly inmates to spend just a few hours in a halfway house. While at his home in Kankakee, Ryan will not be allowed to leave home during non-working hours and will remain “under the strict supervision of the Bureau of Prisons,” Ross said.
“The whole point of community corrections is to transition the individual back into their community. Decisions are made on a case-by-case basis as to how much halfway house time … an individual needs,” Ross said.
*** UPDATE 2 *** Monique Garcia…
[ *** End Of Updates *** ]
* Former Gov. George Ryan checked into a Chicago halfway house this morning after being released from federal prison. NBC5 has video…
View more videos at: http://nbcchicago.com.
* Former Gov. Jim Thompson was also there and talked to the media…
Former Gov. Jim Thompson said his friend George Ryan “paid a severe price” when he was convicted and imprisoned. “The loss of his wife and brother while he was in the penitentiary, the loss of his pension, his office, his good name. That is a significant punishment.”
Video…
View more videos at: http://nbcchicago.com.
…Adding… Tribune…
Ryan smiled tightly as he refused to answer questions from reporters. Ryan’s son, George Ryan Jr. and former Gov. Jim Thompson accompanied Ryan into the house.
After Ryan checked in, Thompson came back out and told reporters “today is another step in a long journey for George Ryan. . .He would like me to tell you he’s grateful to leave the penitentiary. He’s grateful also for the encouragement and support from many people. He has paid a severe price. The loss of his wife and brother while he was in the penitentiary, the loss of his pension, his office, his good name and 5 1/2 years of imprisonment. Now near 80 years old, that is a significant punishment. But he is going to go forward.”
Ryan left the prison early this morning and managed to escape the notice of media camped at the facility. The first indication that Ryan has been released was around 6:45 a.m. when he left a building down the street and started walking toward the halfway house.
His son put his left hand on his father and guided him out the door. Ryan kept his head down, his hands in his pockets as he talked to his son and walked slowly through the knot of TV cameras.
* ABC7…
A visit to the dentist will be one of the first orders of business for Ryan now that he is at the halfway house in Chicago.
After orientation, Ryan will then be assigned a room in the 210-bed “Freedom Center.”
“What does George Ryan have to go back to a halfway house for at 79 years old?” said former Chicago city clerk Jim Laski. “What are they gonna tell him?”
The mission of halfway house is to help inmates get their feet planted back in society with a job of some sort.
Laski, who did six months of his sentence at the “Freedom Center,” found it to be a process burdened by bureaucracy.
“It’s like going through high school with some goofy orientation program,” said Laski. “It was really a waste of time.”
Still, the ex-governor must follow Federal Bureau of Prisons directives, although his stay at the halfway house likely be a matter of weeks instead of months.
* Sun-Times…
Meanwhile, Ryan’s halfway house release begins a new era for the Kankakee native. He’s expected to stay for a maximum of six months at the same Salvation Army where dozens of onetime politicos from Illinois made their transition back to freedom. They included former City Clerk James Laski and Cicero Town President Betty Loren-Maltese.
Loren-Maltese didn’t sugarcoat her stay at the same venue.
“I was cleaning the bathrooms,” she said. “I thought it was horrible there — it reminded me of the high-security prison because of being locked in all the time.”
Laski, who pleaded guilty in 2006 to taking $48,000 in bribes, has few good memories of the place — an environment he called “dingy, cold and dark.”
“It’s not the most friendly place,” Laski told the Chicago Sun-Times on Tuesday.
Laski, who went to the South Ashland facility in mid-2007 from a dormitory-type prison in West Virginia, described the buffet-style food as “fair to middling,” but a slight improvement over prison grub.
Laski recalled his first day at the halfway house, when he was required to introduce himself to various staff members and gather a signature from each of them.
“You run around like a little kid, getting signatures. . . . It’s silly,” said Laski, who lives on the Southwest Side and runs a consulting business with offices in Chicago and Miami.
* Related…
* Timeline Of George Ryan Case
- Leroy - Wednesday, Jan 30, 13 @ 8:51 am:
“That is a significant punishment”
Did Thompson think we were sending Ryan on a vacation?
Of course it was a significant punishment, Sherlock….its PRISON.
- Anonymous 45 - Wednesday, Jan 30, 13 @ 9:06 am:
Leroy, this is a prelude to a petitioning for a pardon and a job via his attorney with political connections…
- PublicServant - Wednesday, Jan 30, 13 @ 9:07 am:
Let him go. The halfway house, one size fits all, federal prison “reintroduction to society” doesn’t fit George Ryan.
- WazUp - Wednesday, Jan 30, 13 @ 9:13 am:
Same rules for all as it should be.
- siriusly - Wednesday, Jan 30, 13 @ 9:16 am:
G Ryan actually looks reasonably good. I was expecting him to appear very thin and look like prison aged him a lot.
- Aldyth - Wednesday, Jan 30, 13 @ 9:18 am:
I sincerely hope that there are other politicians out there who have actually learned something from George Ryan and Rod Blagojevich and that maybe, just maybe, chose not to take the paths that they did.
- Fred's Mustache - Wednesday, Jan 30, 13 @ 9:29 am:
One step closer to turning the page… for George Ryan and Illinois
- Oswego Willy - Wednesday, Jan 30, 13 @ 9:33 am:
===Leroy, this is a prelude to a petitioning for a pardon and a job via his attorney with political connections…===
Yeah, um, the man did 5 1/2 years, what more do you want besides what a federal court convicted him, and what a federal judge sentenced him.
At 78, going on 79 in late Feb., you think “political connections” at this point in the game is going to make anything better? Geo. H. Ryan will just get his political connections are hooked up and be living the dream?
The man is broken, broke, lost his wife and brother, no pension, and at his age, what is the career longevity to build up something for “later”?
Good luck with the “politcal connections” and all being right as rain.
- Poster - Wednesday, Jan 30, 13 @ 9:37 am:
Thompson has it backwards. The people that paid the “severe price” are the people of the State of Illinois including those that died via his license selling scheme. Let him rot; he has earned it
- Wensicia - Wednesday, Jan 30, 13 @ 9:48 am:
“The loss of his wife and brother while he was in the penitentiary, the loss of his pension, his office, his good name. That is a significant punishment.”
Why didn’t he finish the statement?
“A punishment he earned by his criminal behavior.”
I’m sorry he lost loved ones while in prison. But, I can’t sympathize with his lawyers acting like he was somehow unfairly prosecuted. Look up the word “justice”, guys.
- Snucka - Wednesday, Jan 30, 13 @ 9:49 am:
I don’t think he is a bad man or was even a bad governor. He came from a different era in politics, and unfortunately he hung on to the old ways for too long. He benefited more than he should have and has probably paid for it more than he should have. He is almost finished with his sentence, and I wish him and his family good luck.
- Oswego Willy - Wednesday, Jan 30, 13 @ 9:54 am:
===Why didn’t he finish the statement?===
It is quite obvious that he earned his punishment, since I stated a federal court convicted him and a federal judge sentenced him. I think when I posted that part too, I was making it clear the court system found him guilty, and I was NOT saying he was NOT guilty.
- wishbone - Wednesday, Jan 30, 13 @ 9:54 am:
He still will not acknowledge that he did anything wrong, and neither will his enabler Big Jim.
- Oswego Willy - Wednesday, Jan 30, 13 @ 9:58 am:
Hey, - Wensicia -,
Thought you were calling me out directly. Sorry. My Bad.
- Wensicia - Wednesday, Jan 30, 13 @ 10:12 am:
@OW,
No, I was just quoting Thompson.
I’ll be grateful when this is over, for Ryan and Illinois citizens.
- Oswego Willy - Wednesday, Jan 30, 13 @ 10:29 am:
===I’ll be grateful when this is over, for Ryan and Illinois citizens.===
Agreed!
- Demoralized - Wednesday, Jan 30, 13 @ 10:36 am:
==Same rules for all as it should be. ==
Yes, the same rules should apply as far as prison goes. But the Halfway House thing is just stupid. The point of it is to “train” you to reintigrate into society and give you some job skills. I hardly think George Ryan needs “job skills” at his age or with his background. A “one size fits all” approach is asinine. It would be nice if a little common sense would prevail. And I’m in no way defending the former Governor. He served his prison sentence. He’s almost 80. Send him home for pete’s sake and move on. It’s a waste of federal resources and time.
- Skeeter - Wednesday, Jan 30, 13 @ 10:43 am:
That stay sure didn’t last long.
- Robert the Bruce - Wednesday, Jan 30, 13 @ 10:53 am:
“It was awful,” Laski continued, “I kept asking who I had to bribe to get out of cleaning the bathrooms, and nobody was helpful - I never did find the bagman.”
- Anyone Remember? - Wednesday, Jan 30, 13 @ 10:57 am:
Question -
If he gets a federal pardon, does he get his pension back?
- wordslinger - Wednesday, Jan 30, 13 @ 10:59 am:
There’s no point to the halfway house. I don’t think a 79-year-old man needs help in writing up his resume or on job interview skills.
Slap an ankle bracelet on and let him go home.
- justbabs - Wednesday, Jan 30, 13 @ 11:00 am:
New report says he has left the halfway house for home monitoring.
- Anyone Remember? - Wednesday, Jan 30, 13 @ 11:01 am:
UPDATE -
Tribune reporting Ryan has been “sent home after spending just hours at halfway house” … .
- Anonymous - Wednesday, Jan 30, 13 @ 11:02 am:
I have to agree with Demoralized when considering the objective for “re-integration” into society. As I said before, from psychologically perspective in this case, allow him to make the choice.
- Sparky - Wednesday, Jan 30, 13 @ 11:14 am:
“It was awful,” Laski continued, “I kept asking who I had to bribe to get out of cleaning the bathrooms, and nobody was helpful - I never did find the bagman.”
Ryan needs to be in halfway house cleaning toliets like everyone else. He still doesnt admit he did anything wrong and boo hoo he lost some family while in prison. Just like every other convicted felon has lost family while serving their time. No sympathy from me. Met the man a few times. He was one of the most pompous, arrogant man I have ever met. Oh, and by the way ask him about the family that fried on the interstate during his watch as Secretary of State. Some of you will know what I mean. Like I said no sympathy from me.
- Oswego Willy - Wednesday, Jan 30, 13 @ 11:19 am:
- Sparky ,
Have passion, but the comment about the highway, Bad Form.
- Downstate - Wednesday, Jan 30, 13 @ 11:23 am:
Quick - Of the last three governors (Ryan, Blago and Quinn), who has been LEAST damaging to the state?
Ryan doesn’t look so bad.
- Anonymous - Wednesday, Jan 30, 13 @ 11:25 am:
There are people who commit crimes because they feel they have no other options. This was pure greed and arrogance. Thompson’s sympathy seems misplaced. But maybe he thinks what George did wasn’t wrong, which is a scary thought. George was his lieutenant governor after all.
- Sparky - Wednesday, Jan 30, 13 @ 11:40 am:
Oh really Willy.
You might want to read this:
http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?section=news/local&id=4541369
- Anonymous - Wednesday, Jan 30, 13 @ 11:43 am:
Sparky, why do you and others misinformed continue to blame Ryan for the dreadful accident that took place on an open road due to an truck part that came lose from a truck being trailed by the van. The accident was NOT caused by driver error; a defective part in the truck did!
- Oswego Willy - Wednesday, Jan 30, 13 @ 11:48 am:
Yes, - Sparky -,
How about, “…role in the fiery wreck…”
If you may instead of the insensitive language, to descibe the horror, you decided to use, which I thought was, and still think, is Bad Form.
Maybe you should read how you described it and see how some may call YOU insensitve to the Willis Family. Just a thought.
- Sparky - Wednesday, Jan 30, 13 @ 11:50 am:
Sparky, why do you and others misinformed continue to blame Ryan for the dreadful accident that took place on an open road due to an truck part that came lose from a truck being trailed by the van. The accident was NOT caused by driver error; a defective part in the truck did!
I didn’t know the truck was driving itself.
- Rich Miller - Wednesday, Jan 30, 13 @ 11:53 am:
===I didn’t know the truck was driving itself.===
Testimony at civil trial showed that people tried to wave and motion to the truck driver that a piece was loose on the back of his vehicle. He either ignored them or didn’t understand.
- dupage dan - Wednesday, Jan 30, 13 @ 11:56 am:
Ryan may not be contrite. He may not have been directly involved in the tragedy on the interstate. He has done his time, however. I don’t see a pardon in his future. Let him fade into obscurity.
- Anonymous - Wednesday, Jan 30, 13 @ 12:09 pm:
=He has done his time, however…Let him fade into obscurity.=
- Sparky - Wednesday, Jan 30, 13 @ 12:28 pm:
Willy,
Agree, should have used different language to describe tragedy. My bad.
But, still stand by argument against Ryan for his actions. Here is another good article and at least some people took some responsibility for their part. Something Ryan never has done on anything:
http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2012-10-21/news/ct-met-kass-1021-20121021_1_hammer-and-sonneveld-willis-children-russell-sonneveld
- Oswego Willy - Wednesday, Jan 30, 13 @ 12:59 pm:
- Sparky -,
Next time, when trying to make a point, try not to be insesitive to the victims you are trying to defend. Your arguement will have more sway, at least with me.
- Quinn T. Sential - Wednesday, Jan 30, 13 @ 1:24 pm:
Well after lunchtime and still no tweet from @GeorgeRyan.
What kind of half-apped re-integration program is this “halfway house” operating?
- Chad - Wednesday, Jan 30, 13 @ 2:04 pm:
Our state, and we collectively and individually, experience shame when those from out of state joke about how corrupt our state is. “So will your next Governor go to jail as well?” is a skinkin’ joke I am sick of and will probably hear for the balance of my professional career. I am thankful for Quinn’s “boy scout” approach to things. It might not get things accomplished that need to be done, but at least I don’t go to bed wondering whether he is going to jail.
- Dan Bureaucrat - Wednesday, Jan 30, 13 @ 2:31 pm:
There is no point in putting a former governor in a halfway house to learn life skills. We pay for this senseless ritual and that means we are not paying for something else.
The feds should run their prison system with some shred of awareness about who needs what and we should have zero tolerance for burning money.
- D.P. Gumby - Wednesday, Jan 30, 13 @ 2:36 pm:
A reasonable and just end to a questionable sentence.
- downstate commissioner - Wednesday, Jan 30, 13 @ 3:07 pm:
Have to agree with those who think that in this case, a halfway house is silly. Put a monitor bracelet on him and send him home. Still feel that he accomplished more in his term than either Blago or Quinn have…
- Eric Zorn - Wednesday, Jan 30, 13 @ 3:16 pm:
I wrote about the extent to which Ryan can be blamed for the deaths of the Willis children in a Jan., 2004, column.
Key passage:
When (truck driver Ricardo) Guzman didn’t pull over to check his rig, it was the last link in a chain of failures and oversights that included the company that made the part that fell off, the company that leased the chassis, the company that maintained the chassis, the company that supervised Guzman, the company that oversaw dispatching in the truck yard and the company that installed an insufficiently shielded gas tank on its line of mini-vans, each of which paid at least $1 million and as much as $50 million to settle the Willis suit.
The assumption that an ordinarily competent trucker would have heeded the warnings Guzman received makes the secretary of state’s office under Ryan a key link in that chain.
Not to minimize or to magnify that link, just to put it in perspective: A little more good and a little less bad anywhere along the line and those kids would be alive today.
Link to the whole column: http://blogs.chicagotribune.com/news_columnists_ezorn/2010/12/how-much-blame-does-george-ryan-bear-for-the-deaths-of-the-willis-children.html
- Oswego Willy - Wednesday, Jan 30, 13 @ 3:31 pm:
Thanks, - Eric Zorn -,
Getting the perspective of the writer always helps with context.
- dupage dan - Wednesday, Jan 30, 13 @ 3:55 pm:
I heard Gov Ryan might need some help learning how to write checks - but I might be wrong on that.
(snark)
- LincolnLounger - Wednesday, Jan 30, 13 @ 4:11 pm:
Did he lose all of his pension, or does he still have his pension from the IL House/Kankakee County.
- wordslinger - Wednesday, Jan 30, 13 @ 4:34 pm:
–I heard Gov Ryan might need some help learning how to write checks - but I might be wrong on that.
(snark)–
Thanks, DD, for letting us know that was snark. Went way over my head.
You get the George Costanza Award for expressing the obvious halfway-house burn that everyone else passed on long ago.
Still, the old man who just got out of prison probably just settled in at home. Plenty of opportunities to call and ask if his refrigerator is running or play ding-dong-ditch.
- Just The Way It Is One - Wednesday, Jan 30, 13 @ 4:35 pm:
The whole thing was beyond ugly and tragic. Bribery and greed can have sickening consequences and ‘ol George must’ve pondered that reality more than a few times over the last 5 years. And thank you to Eric Zorn for re-adding pertinent perspective–it was all connected and Ryan was one of the biggest Dominoes which had lined up toward that immensely sad, fateful day, having largely created that wrongheaded, arrogant culture of corruption. All Illinoisans were then, once again, both humiliated and deeply disillusioned witnessing yet another politician with such immense power having gone awry as a result of it–he just really needs to fade into obsurity now, and I, for one, hope he does…to refer to the entire nightmare merely as yet another “sad chapter” in our beloved “Land of Lincoln” is being quite kind. It hurts. It hurt then and it hurts now. It will always hurt.
- wordslinger - Wednesday, Jan 30, 13 @ 5:05 pm:
–All Illinoisans were then, once again, both humiliated and deeply disillusioned witnessing yet another politician with such immense power having gone awry as a result of it–
All Illinoisans, once and for all, should take responsibility for their society — government and business.
They’re not victims, they’re a part of it.
Ryan and Blago were elected. Ryan was old school and no mystery.
For crying out loud, Blago was re-elected when any fool could see that he was a massive crook and had a target on his back.
Two hundred years ago, this state was largely a wilderness. One hundred years ago, it was raw laissez-faire capitalism. Fifty years ago and today, people come from all over the world to make a buck and could care less about anything else.
The folks who came here to make a go of it weren’t all singing kum-ba-yah and debating ethics.
Read Masters, Dreiser, Lardner, Terkel, Royko or your daily newspaper. On and on and on.
This ain’t Bugtussel — although there’s plenty of corruption there, too, in the Small-Town World.
The human condition doesn’t change by geography.
- Change.... - Wednesday, Jan 30, 13 @ 5:18 pm:
Gov. Ryan paid his dues and did what most IL politicians do and got caught. As for the Willis Children, don’t even go there! (See what happens when illegals get drivers licenses.) Gov. Ryan was a good man and treated many with respect and when he gave his word HE KEPT IT! With the former and current governors, George Ryan was much more of a governor than they will ever be. He could move forward and work with everyone. He also was an excellent LISTENER. I pray he can live out the rest of his life in health with his family. As for the other question on pensions ~ http://mchenrycountyblog.com/2012/02/09/house-of-representatives-finally-gets-it-re-pensions-for-convicted-congressional-felons/
- Oswego Willy - Wednesday, Jan 30, 13 @ 5:25 pm:
===Still, the old man who just got out of prison probably just settled in at home. Plenty of opportunities to call and ask if his refrigerator is running or play ding-dong-ditch.===
Well done.
- Oswego Willy - Wednesday, Jan 30, 13 @ 5:28 pm:
===(See what happens when illegals get drivers licenses.)===
Ooohh, let’s not confuse getting an illegal drivers license and a tragedy, with licensing and insuring more drivers … unless you think its witty.
Bad Form.
- Change.... - Wednesday, Jan 30, 13 @ 5:39 pm:
OW ~ just how do you think illegals are going to be able “read” (english) our vehicle laws & signs in order to drive? The driver of this horrific accident may not have “understood” what people were trying to “communicate” to him. Not being witty…just using common sense.
- RNUG - Wednesday, Jan 30, 13 @ 5:59 pm:
Change / O.W.
IL law already requires the signs in the DL test to be shown in English. The rest of the test can be in English, Spanish (both explicitly listed) or any other language approved by the SoS.
- Oswego Willy - Wednesday, Jan 30, 13 @ 6:01 pm:
- Change…. -,
If you are going to make the Willis tragedy, the bribes for licenses about the licensing law just passed … you are missing the whole point of both.
Sorry.
- steve schnorf - Wednesday, Jan 30, 13 @ 6:22 pm:
Anyone who argues that George Ryan created a culture of corruption in the SoS office is either ignorant or lying. Employees at SoS get arrested for taking bribes and illegally issuing licenses today, as they did under George Ryan, Jim Edgar, Alan Dixon, and every other SoS as far back as I can remember. I don’t believe that makes the current Secretary guilty of creating or tolerating corruption. It speak much more to the human condition, there and everywhere.
- Oswego Willy - Wednesday, Jan 30, 13 @ 6:28 pm:
- steve schnorf -,
Well done. Agreed.
- wordslinger - Wednesday, Jan 30, 13 @ 6:38 pm:
==OW ~ just how do you think illegals are going to be able “read” (english) our vehicle laws & signs in order to drive? The driver of this horrific accident may not have “understood” what people were trying to “communicate” to him. Not being witty…just using common sense.==
I should ignore this, but I won’t. See you in church on Sunday (I like the First Epistle to the Corinthians — and the Niners).
What language are your road signs in, compadre?
It may have been a victory for you to master “Stop,” but other than that, what are we talking about?
When you’re flying down the interstate, and folks are signaling at you, does your spider sense register something the rest of us don’t?
Enough now. George Ryan did not kill the Willis kids. That’s just a despicable position, advanced by sanctimonious cynics for lurid, personal benefits.
A flunky in the Secretary of State’s office took money to issue a funky license, then claimed it was under duress to pay the vig to the patrone. Bauer tried to cover it up.
The accident came. A few seconds here, a few seconds there, it never would have happened. It’s unthinkable.
The Willis’ can lay it on anyone they want. They have the right. The rest of us don’t have the right to appropriate their sorrow.
But we do have to take the responsibility for our government.
Want to hear a dirty little secret? The SOS office, for decades, under Democrats and Republicans, was notorious for making driver’s license accommodations for certain folks.
Whether it was money or clout, it could happen. Not at the top. But in the middle. Not that the folks at the top didn’t know it was going on.
It was standard operating procedure.
I’m fifty, and I can’t imagine anyone who ever lived in Illinois didn’t know that. But we elected the folks, some of the most popular elected folks ever, endorsed and celebrated by the media, year after year.
Again, take responsibility for what you know and what you do.
- Oswego Willy - Wednesday, Jan 30, 13 @ 6:54 pm:
- steve schnorf - & - wordslinger -,
Bringing the honest “eyes” to the realities of SOS, GHR, and a tragedy that no one would wish on anyone.
Thanks.
- change - Wednesday, Jan 30, 13 @ 6:56 pm:
Thank you Steven. It also happened in about 23 or so other states. Word, this is my last comment on this so take it with a grain of salt. We have signs that direct us which way to go, highway names, or “do not pass on shoulder”, etc. It is not about just a red STOP sign. The legals took their tests, jumped through hoops to become legal..just saying. Regardless, like I said before ” I pray Gov. Ryan can live out the rest of his life in health with his family. “
- wordslinger - Wednesday, Jan 30, 13 @ 7:29 pm:
Schnorf, Willie, save us from the folks who pretend they were born yesterday.
They have no respect for the good and they take no responsibility for the bad.
I have no use for them.
- Oswego Willy - Wednesday, Jan 30, 13 @ 8:08 pm:
- wordslinger -,
All you can do is ensure sanity has a fighting chance. Some of the conclusions & the path to them amaze me.
Policing is warranted, otherwise Tin Foil hats would reign, and insanity would rule.
We all deserve better, right? And I am glad for the policing by everyone, because I just used my tin foil for potatoes and have none for a hat.