March 25--As former Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr. prepares to leave prison this week, a Federal Bureau of Prisons official said some inmates transition to home confinement the very same day they enter a halfway house.
Edmond Ross, a bureau spokesman, said Wednesday he did not know how soon Jackson Jr. will begin home confinement after he enters a halfway house.
Ross said when inmates have a well-established family, stable home environment, strong ties to a community and job "they don't need as much time in a halfway house."
The guideline is that home confinement last no more than 10 percent of a felon's term -- and in no case longer than six months, Ross said. That guideline is waived for certain inmates, he said.
Home confinement, which may or may not involve wearing an anklet, has its own set of rules, including requiring preapproval to travel and a ban on alcohol and drugs, Ross said.
An inmate's prison case-management team decides how the inmate transitions out of prison, Ross said.
Jackson, 50, began serving a 30-month prison sentence in October 2013. The longtime Democratic congressman from Chicago's South Side was imprisoned for misusing about $750,000 in campaign money.
The Bureau of Prisons "inmate locator," an online service, shows Jackson remains incarcerated Wednesday in a federal prison camp on Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery, Ala.
The Associated Press reported Tuesday that Jackson is expected to be moved Thursday, according to friend and former Rep. Patrick Kennedy.
The Rev. Jesse Jackson, the former congressman's father, told the Tribune on Wednesday that Kennedy's statements were accurate.
Kennedy said Jackson Jr. will be picked up in Alabama on Thursday by his parents, his wife, Sandi, and their two children and taken to a halfway house.
The elder Jackson said he did not know the location of the halfway house. The family is excited over the prospect of Jackson Jr.'s release, he said.
"It is his strength and clarity and release that makes me feel so good," the Rev. Jackson said. "And the family finds great joy in this occasion."
The bureau does not disclose the name and location of the halfway house where a felon lives, Ross said, though it does disclose the management office overseeing the facility.
Jackson Jr. has homes in Washington, D.C., and Chicago.
In the vicinity of the nation's capital, the Bureau of Prisons has a contract with a halfway house known as Hope Village, and nearby in Baltimore at Volunteers of America Chesapeake, its website says.
Jackson Jr. is expected to be released from federal custody Sept. 20 and, within a month of his release, Sandi Jackson is to begin a 12-month prison term for her role in their crimes.
kskiba@tribpub.com
