Jesse Jackson, Jr., the former Congressman and son of Jesse Jackson, is scheduled to be sentenced on Wednesday for misspending $750,000 in campaign funds. Jackson’s wife Sandi is also scheduled for sentencing at the same time for her failure to report as much as $600,000 in income to the IRS.
Jackson’s attorney’s filed a request on Monday for his sentence to be served at a prison camp in Montgomery, Alabama or a low-security prison in Butner, North Carolina.
The Chicago Tribune reports:
Both facilities are among the best in the prison system, said Alan Ellis, a defense attorney who specializes in federal sentencing. Ellis ranks the Montgomery prison, a minimum-security facility located on Maxwell Air Force Base, among the top 10 in the nation.
“Staff is good there,” he said. “You keep your mind occupied, you’re working on the base.”
Butner is “the crown jewel of the prison system” because it has a number of different facilities and a medical center that draws from the nearby Research Triangle area of Durham, Raleigh and Chapel Hill, Ellis said.
“It’s like a college campus,” Ellis said, adding that the buildings are “all named after (Atlantic Coast Conference) schools.”
Despite his attorney’s request, the Bureau of Prisons is ultimately left with the decision of where Jackson will serve his time.
Jackson and his wife have also requested to serve their terms, if sentenced behind bars, separately, in the interest of their children. Prosecutors are seeking a 48 month sentence for Jackson, Jr. and 18 months for his wife Sandi.