John Harris, a former chief of staff to corrupt ex-Gov. Rod Blagojevich, was given such a short prison sentence he won’t even do his time in a federal prison.
U.S. Bureau of Prisons officials have notified Harris that he is to report to McHenry County Jail on Tuesday to begin to serve his 10-day sentence, according to Terry Ekl, Harris’ lawyer.
The sentence is believed to be the shortest prison term ever for public corruption in Chicago — so short that it left federal prison officials without an immediate plan for how or where Harris would serve the sentence. To ease overcrowding at the Metropolitan Correctional Center, the federal jail in the Loop, federal prison officials have long moved inmates awaiting trial there to outlying county jails.
Harris’ sentence in March was a stunning contrast to the 14-year prison term imposed by the same judge on Blagojevich, who is serving his time in a federal prison in Colorado. Harris, who was arrested on the same day as Blagojevich in December 2008, provided crucial assistance to investigators and testified against Blagojevich at both trials. He pleaded guilty to assisting the then-governor in his efforts to sell the U.S. Senate seat left vacant by President Barack Obama’s election.
In sentencing Harris, U.S. District Judge James Zagel said he considered how difficult the former governor was to work for and suggested that Harris faced a dilemma with a boss who would not be dissuaded from his corrupt schemes. Still, Zagel said Harris was too close to the center of power to entirely elude prison time.
