"RODios:" Blagojevich Heads To Prison

By Chuck Sudo in News on Mar 15, 2012 2:20PM

Former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich left his Chicago home before daybreak this morning to report to prison in Colorado, where he will begin serving a 14-year sentence for corruption for attempting to sell the United States Senate seat vacated by Barack Obama's election as President.

Blagojevich, with wife Patti at his side, made his final public remarks as a free man outside his home yesterday. It was a fitting sendoff for Blagojevich, who never met a camera from which he could turn away: part stump speech, part defiance, part contrition, all made before a media scrum and supporters who made Blagojevich seem as much a folk hero as a convicted felon. The spectacle was a far cry from statements by Blagojevich's attorneys last month indicating he would like to enter prison "quitely" and with "dignity."

Blagojevich said his legal battle is not over. His attorneys are working on appealing his conviction. "I still believe in America, the rule of law, that might makes right," he said during his statement yesterday.

Blagojevich must report to the medium security Federal Correction Institution Englewood in Littelton, Colo. by noon CST, where he'll be known as Inmate 40892-424.

Blagojevich can cut a couple years from his sentence if he completes an alcohol treatment program. Inmates in the federal prison system have said on the record they've entered the program specifically to cut time from their sentences, but sources told Chicago Sun-Times gossip columnist Michael Sneed that Blagojevich have a legitimate drinking problem.