George Ryan arrives at prison, maintains innocence

OXFORD, Wis. -- Former Illinois governor George Ryan slipped through a back gate at a rural federal prison Wednesday, avoiding any fanfare as he began serving a 6 1/2-year corruption sentence.

The 73-year-old Republican entered the prison about noon, Bureau of Prisons spokeswoman Felicia Ponce said, and managed to avoid a throng of media awaiting his arrival at the main entrance.

Oxford prison spokeswoman Christine Montonna said Ryan was "a high-profile inmate" and prison officials brought him in a back way to protect him and maintain order at the prison.

"We felt it was a security step that we had to take," Montonna said when asked whether Ryan had received special treatment. She did not specify what, if any, danger Ryan might have faced.

The pharmacist-turned-politician, who gained international acclaim for his opposition to the death penalty, has said he will continue fighting to clear his name, even while sitting in prison.

"Tomorrow I embark on a new journey in my life," the 73-year-old said Tuesday night surrounded by family and friends at his home in Kankakee, Ill. "I do so with a firm faith in God and the support and faith of my family."

Ryan was convicted in April of steering contracts, tax fraud, misuse of tax dollars and state workers, and killing a bribery investigation. Elected governor in 1998, after serving as secretary of state, he was in office only a few weeks before the federal investigation became public.

Ryan had hoped to remain free on bond while he appealed his convictions to the U.S. Supreme Court. But the father of six lost his final bid to delay his prison term when U.S. Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens turned down his request to remain free on bail.

He joined more than 200 other inmates at a minimum security camp at the federal prison, said Mike Truman, a spokesman for the Federal Bureau of Prisons in Washington, D.C.

The camp, in a rural area north of Madison, has four wings, each with 13 rooms that house four inmates apiece, much like a military barracks, Truman said.

The former governor was told to arrive empty-handed.

"He doesn't need anything," Truman said. Ryan was to be fingerprinted, photographed and eventually given prison garb -- a tan shirt and pants, white socks and steel-toed shoes.

"The hardest adjustment for anybody, not just a 73-year-old, is the separation of the family. That is the toughest. You are basically told when to eat, when the lights go out," Truman said. "You are told what to do. Your life is structured."