UPDATE: Blagojevich Leaves Chicago for Prison
The last day.
Convicted former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich's final hours of freedom are winding down before he must report to Federal Correctional Institution (FCI) Englewood in Littleton, Colo., Thursday to serve his 14 years for corruption.
On Tuesday, Blagojevich took his wife and two daughters to Lincoln Park Zoo to enjoy the mild weather. When they arrived home, neighbors greeted them, offering the former governor support. On the sidewalk outside his home, posters are still seen with messages thanking Blagojevich and expressing outrage at the severity of his sentence.
Blagojevich plans to make a statement at 5:02 p.m. Wednesday. It's not clear what he'll say, nor how he'll spend the hours before he leaves.
"This is what I try to get all my clients to understand," said Wendy Feldman, a prison consultant and coach. "There is a reason that you’ve gotten yourself this ticket to prison. [Blagojevich] is going to have to learn humility, and then respect, and then he’ll need to ease in to the process, because he’s got such a long time to be there."
Once he's in prison, Blagojevich will be assigned to a two- or four-man room. He'll need to be up at 6:30 a.m. every day and will be assigned a job, mostly likely latrine duty because it's typically given to newcomers.
Blagojevich will now have his mail opened and read before he ever sees it. He will have to submit a list of just 30 people he will be allowed to call, and those calls will be limited to a total of just 300 minutes a month.
"They are going to be hard on him," said Feldman. "Other inmates are going to be exceptionally hard on him."
But Blagojevich still has today. He'll speak Wednesday evening outside his Ravenswood Manor home.
