Former Ill. gov. assigned to Wis. prison

The federal Bureau of Prisons has reassigned former Gov. George Ryan to a prison in central Wisconsin to serve his racketeering and fraud sentence, his attorneys confirmed Friday.

The prison in Oxford, Wis., where various politicians, mobsters and assorted other big shots from Chicago have served time, is considerably closer to Chicago than his original assignment in Duluth, Minn.

"Both Oxford and Duluth are fine institutions and its not a matter of choosing one over the other, but the travel time to Oxford is better for his family," said Ryan's attorney, former Gov. James R. Thompson, who sought the move.

Ryan, 73, was convicted by a jury last year of steering contracts to co-defendant Larry Warner and other friends, using state resources to run his campaigns and killing an investigation of bribes paid in exchange for truck drivers licenses. Prosecutors traced $170,000 of the bribe money to the Citizens for Ryan campaign fund which has itself been convicted of racketeering.

He is due to report to prison on Wednesday to start serving the 6 1/2-year sentence unless the U.S. Supreme Court grants Ryan bail while he tries to get the high court to consider his appeal.

Lawyers say trying to get bail from the U.S. Supreme Court is a long shot.

Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens, who handles such requests originating in the Chicago-based 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, on Thursday asked the government to reply to the request for bail, which was filed on behalf of both Ryan and Warner. They have been free on bond since their April 2006 conviction.