Ex-Ohio Lawmaker Ney in Halfway House

[Movementarian]

Ex-Ohio Lawmaker Ney in Halfway House

By DAN SEWELL | Associated Press Writer
February 21, 2008

CINCINNATI - Former U.S. Rep. Bob Ney, who pleaded guilty in a congressional bribery scandal tied to disgraced former lobbyist Jack Abramoff, has been moved from prison to a halfway house in Cincinnati, according to the federal prisons Web site.

Ney, a Republican who served six House terms, was sentenced to 2 1/2 years in prison in January 2007 after pleading guilty to trading political favors for golf trips, campaign donations and other gifts in the Abramoff lobbying scandal.

Ney, 53, had been held at the Federal Corrections Institution in Morgantown, W.Va. Prison spokesman James Robinson said Thursday he could confirm only that Ney left the prison Tuesday, but he couldn't release any other information, including the location of the halfway house.

"I talked to him as he left," said Robinson, who declined to comment on the conversation. "He was treated like everybody else."

Ney earned about nine months off his original sentence because he completed an alcohol treatment program. The move to a halfway house had been expected as a transition to Ney's release, which is scheduled for August, after he will have served nearly a year and a half.

Ney's attorney, William Lawler, said earlier this month that Ney was making good progress. Lawler did not immediately respond to a phone message left Thursday seeking comment.

Under the nine-month alcohol treatment program Ney participated in, inmates attend meetings four hours a day, five days a week. He must continue to participate in aftercare treatment at the halfway house, a prison official said earlier.

At halfway houses, inmates can sign out for approved activities and are expected to seek employment, then must pay part of their income toward the cost of their confinement. Their whereabouts are monitored and they are subject to random drug and alcohol tests.

Source: Ex-Ohio Lawmaker Ney in Halfway House -- baltimoresun.com