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Hastert, once a
revered figure in Illinois politics, will serve his sentence at
the Federal Medical Center in Rochester, Minnesota, said two
sources with knowledge of the case, who declined to be named.
The media office at the Federal Bureau of Prisons was not
immediately available for comment.
U.S. District Judge Thomas Durkin sentenced Hastert, 74, to 15
months in prison, but the time could be reduced for good
behavior. Durkin said he would have given him a longer sentence
if it had not been for Hastert's age and poor health.
Hastert, the longest-serving Republican House speaker in
history, pleaded guilty last year to the crime of structuring,
which involves withdrawing a large sum of money in small
increments to avoid detection.
Hastert was taking the money out of his bank accounts to pay a
promised $3.5 million in compensation for pain and suffering to
one of his five sexual abuse victims, he admitted in his plea
agreement and at his sentencing hearing.
Hastert has not been charged with or convicted of sex abuse due
to the statute of limitations, but at his sentencing hearing in
April, he admitted to sexual abuse of boys when he was a high
school teacher and coach in his hometown of Yorkville, Illinois.
The Federal Medical Center has a total of 678 inmates and is
designed for male prisoners who need special medical care,
according to its website. Hastert nearly died last year after
suffering a stroke and being treated for a severe blood
infection and undergoing surgery for a spinal infection, his
lawyers said in court filings last year.
(Reporting by Fiona Ortiz; Editing by Leslie Adler)
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