Ex-IL Governor Writes of ‘Mindless Brutality’ in Prison
A former Illinois governor who served time at a Minnesota prison sometimes known as “Club Fed” says he encountered “mindless brutality” at the facility.
In a commentary for the Chicago Tribune, former Gov. Dan Walker urges mercy for a more recent governor—George Ryan. The en banc 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals yesterday refused to rehear Ryan’s appeal of his conviction for corruption.
Walker served 18 months in the minimum security prison in Duluth for bank fraud. “I hope sincerely that Ryan does not encounter the kind of mindless brutality that I did at Duluth—for example, put through repeated strip searches and forced to watch inmates being sodomized,” Walker wrote.
Walker urged that Ryan’s six-year sentence be reduced. “He is in his 70s, not in the best of health, is totally disgraced, lost most of his pensions, probably near bankruptcy, and realizing that whatever good he did in his years of public service is now wiped from people’s memories,” he said.
