Former Conn. Gov. Rowland to Report to Prison April 1

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John Rowland has had some prestigious titles in his Connecticut career: state representative, congressman, governor, even insurance agent. Last Friday, he got a new one: federal inmate No. 15623-014.

And unlike the other titles, he’ll keep this one for life.

The three-term Republican governor is scheduled to report to federal prison April 1 for a year-and-a-day corruption sentence. Rowland’s inmate number designation was posted on the U.S. Bureau of Prisons inmate database.

It lists him as a 47-year-old white male “in transit” — a designation that simply means he has a reporting date.

A judge recommended he serve the sentence at the Federal Prison Camp Devens, a minimum security facility on a former Army base about 35 miles west of Boston, but the U.S. Bureau of Prisons will have the final say.

“We haven’t received confirmation of either time or location,” Rowland’s attorney, William F. Dow III, said.

The identification numbers are used to track the nearly 200,000 inmates in the federal prison system and the thousands of others who have been released.

Rowland admitted trading access to his office for more than $100,000 in vacations, charter airline trips to Las Vegas and home repairs. Though he tried to portray his crimes as tax-related, prosecutors repeatedly called him corrupt at sentencing.

He will be eligible for release after 10 months. After his sentence, he must serve four months of house arrest.

Rowland joined a list of more than a dozen former governors who served prison time nationwide. The list includes former Tennessee Gov. Ray Blanton (No. 09362-075), former West Virginia Gov. Arch A. Moore Jr. (02928-088) and former Louisiana Gov. Edwin Edwards (03128-095).

Prison officials try to place inmates within 500 miles of their homes, but that’s contingent on finding available beds. Martha Stewart, for instance, requested the prison camp in Danbury but was assigned to West Virginia.

Like nearly every prison facility, Devens is at or near capacity. Prison spokesman John Colautti said Friday that the camp could accept a few more inmates, though the population changes daily.

Copyright 2005 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Associated Press writer John Christoffersen in Stamford, Conn., contributed to this report.

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