Former U.S. congressman Jesse Jackson Jr., now Inmate No. 32451-016, has transferred from the federal prison camp in Butner, North Carolina, to a minimum security facility on the Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery, Alabama.
Jackson is serving a 30-month term after pleading guilty to misusing $750,000 from his campaign fund and resigning from office. His wife, former Chicago alderman Sandi Jackson, who pleaded guilty to charges related to her husband's crime, will begin serving a 12-month sentence when he is released.
Jackson entered prison in October 2013 and is due to be released on Dec. 31, 2015. At his sentencing last August, he requested to be sent to the Montgomery prison camp to "make it a little inconvenient for everybody to get to me."
According to news reports, Jackson requested the transfer after a prison guard objected to his counseling his fellow inmates on their rights. As a result, he was placed in solitary confinement for four or five days, the Chicago Sun-Times reports.
"He wanted to be of service to people serving time with him," Jackson's sister, Santita Jackson, told the publication.
But CBS Chicago is reporting that the disgraced ex-lawmaker made the transfer request so that he could participate in the Montgomery Federal Prison's drug and alcohol treatment program, a benefit that Butner does not offer. It also could lead to an early release.
Jackson, who has been receiving treatment for depression and a bipolar disorder, is reportedly doing much better.
"He's been very disciplined in his health-recovery regimen," Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr. told the Sun-Times. "He's been doing a lot of reading and writing."
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