Ed Burke, Chicago's longest-serving alderman, to report to federal prison today
Chicago's longest-serving alderman Ed Burke will report to federal prison Monday.
In June, Burke was sentenced to two years in prison and a $2 million fine after being convicted on 13 counts of racketeering, extortion and bribery. He will serve his sentence at the minimum security prison camp in Terre Haute, Indiana.
Burke has until 2 p.m. Monday to report to the prison.
It's a bitter humiliation for the 80-year-old Burke, who served more than 50 years on the Chicago City Council representing the 14th Ward on the Southwest Side.
In early August, Burke's attorneys filed a motion saying that while Burke initially requested to serve his sentence at a satellite camp at the minimum-security federal prison in Oxford, Wisconsin, that facility is now "closed."
The Terre Haute facility was built in 1960 to house non-violent felons and includes two, eight and 12 person rooms. GED and drug education classes are available, as are opportunities for sports, cards, golf and crafts, according to its Wikipedia page. The prison also served as home for former Illinois Gov. George Ryan before he was released in 2013.
Burke was convicted of trying to steer tax appeal work to his private law firm by shaking down developers and business owners, much of it captured on secret recordings made by former Ald. Danny Solis.
"It is this persistent culture of corruption that stems largely from our legacy of machine politics. Burke is one of the last of the old school machine politicians in Chicago," said Dr. Connie Mixon, a political science professor at Elmhurst University who testified as an expert on public corruption at Burke's trial.
