Jesse Jackson Jr. starts prison term for looting his campaign fund

Former U.S. .Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., the scion of the prominent civil rights family and one-time rising political star in Chicago, reported to federal prison Tuesday to begin serving a 30-month sentence for looting his campaign fund.

“He is in our custody, as of about a minute ago,” Chris Burke, a spokesman for the Bureau of Prisons told the Chicago Tribune.

Jackson’s surrender at the Butner Federal Correctional Complex near Durham, N.C., ends some confusion over the whereabouts of the disgraced congressman. Jackson had tried to surrender Monday, days earlier than required, but was turned away. Tuesday’s surrender came after the paperwork problems were apparently worked out, according to the newspaper.

Jackson, 48, the son of civil rights leader Jesse Jackson, reportedly suffers from depression and bipolar disorder. The younger Jackson pleaded guilty to stealing $750,000 from his campaign from 2005 to 2012 to pay for vacations, furs and celebrity memorabilia.

Jackson joins other high-profile prisoners at Butner, including convicted financier Bernard Madoff, spy Jonathan Pollard, and Omar Ahmad Rahman, the “blind sheik” convicted of plotting to blow up New York City landmarks, according to the Tribune.

Jackson’s wife, Sandi, a former Chicago alderman, was convicted on a tax violation related to his misuse of campaign funds. She was sentenced to a 12-month prison term to start within 30 days of his release.

Because they have two children, ages 13 and 10, the couple’s sentences were scheduled so they wouldn’t overlap.

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