Tagged: George Ryan

Updated 11:33 a.m. to show that Ryan left the halfway house.

Attorney Jim Thompson says Ryan was released from the halfway house a short time after arriving there. Thompson, also a former Illinois governor, traveled with Ryan to his home in Kankakee, where he will remain in home confinement.

Speaking from Ryan's living room, Thompson said Ryan was beaming and surrounded by his smiling grandchildren.

Original story:

Former Illinois Gov. George Ryan has been released from federal prison in Indiana - but is not yet totally free.

The attorney for George Ryan says the former Illinois governor has qualified for work release five months before his July 2013 parole.

Former Illinois Gov. Jim Thompson tells The Daily Journal in Kankakee for a Wednesday story Ryan's new home will be a halfway house in Chicago's West Loop. The 78-year-old Ryan is serving a 6 1/2-year sentence at the federal prison in Terre Haute, Ind., for a 2006 conviction on corruption charges.

A federal court in Chicago has denied former Illinois Gov. George Ryan's appeal seeking his release from prison.

The 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued a complex 16-page ruling Monday denying the 78-year-old Republican's appeal for release from the Indiana prison where he's serving a 6 1/2-year sentence for corruption.

The appeal was widely seen as Ryan's last chance to get out of prison early. He is due to be freed in mid-2013.