George Ryan, former governor of Illinois, has served five years for racketeering and conspiracy. While he was in prison, his wife and brother died, and Illinois enacted reforms meant to thwart political wheeling and dealing.
Former Illinois Gov. George Ryan leaves Chicago's federal courthouse after his conviction on racketeering and fraud charges, April 17, 2006. Ryan is scheduled to be released from prison on Wednesday, Jan. 30. He entered prison in November 2007.
Charles Rex Arbogast / AP / File
EnlargeWhen former Illinois Gov. George Ryan steps out of prison on Wednesday after serving five-plus years for corruption, he will return to a life altered by personal tragedy and to a state altered by his and his successor's legacy of corruption.
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Ryan, who is headed to a halfway house in Chicago, will encounter an Illinois that has enacted reforms meant to thwart the kind of wheeling and dealing the Republican was accused of engaging in. The state has also changed because of Ryan's legal actions as governor: Following his lead, Illinois abolished the death penalty in 2011.
His personal tragedies include the death of his wife and brother while Ryan was behind bars. Change for the 78-year-old has also included weight loss from walking the grounds at his Terre Haute, Ind., prison, said friend Rob Warden, who visited Ryan a few months ago and has corresponded with him over his years behind bars.
"When I saw him, he was upbeat," said Warden, who is also an anti-capital punishment activist. "He has reconciled himself to what happened to him." At the same time, said Warden, Ryan still maintains that the actions for which he was convicted in 2006 never crossed the line into criminality.
Jurors convicted Ryan on multiple charges, including racketeering and conspiracy. They agreed that, among other crimes, he had steered state business to insiders as secretary of state and then as governor in exchange for vacations and gifts. He began serving a 6 ?-year prison sentence in November 2007 and is being released early into a halfway house under a work-release program.
Thanks to his long-running legal saga, Ryan comes out of prison with no money, his attorneys have said. His state pension was yanked.
The most jarring change for Ryan is that his wife of 55 years, Lura Lynn, died in 2011. He was allowed to visit her in hospital but not to go to her funeral.
His own health has suffered. He's dealt with kidney disease and infected teeth.
It's unclear how Ryan might support himself. He became a celebrity among activists devoted to abolishing the death penalty and they say he could play a role as their national spokesman, possibly going on speaking tours across the country.
Ryan switched from the pro- to anti-death penalty camp in the early 2000s, clearing death row while he was governor. Some critics questioned Ryan's motivation, saying it was a political diversion. But Warden, the executive director of the Chicago-based Center on Wrongful Convictions, and others disagree.
"He's stepping into a changed world ? and it's a changed world partly because of the leadership he showed (opposing capital punishment)," said Diann Rust-Tierney, president of the Washington, D.C.-based National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty.
Before he even endeavors to take on post-prison challenges or opportunities, Ryan will take in the pleasure of no longer being behind bars, said former Chicago city clerk Jim Laski, who was sentenced to two years in prison for corruption in 2006.
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