Bakker Will Do Time at Minn. Medical Facility

Fallen television evangelist Jim Bakker, serving a 45-year sentence for fraud and conspiracy, will be moved from a prison in Alabama to the Federal Medical Center in Rochester within 10 days, officials said today.

Bakker, 49, the founder of the PTL ministry, will be on the medium-security facility’s work crew, but no specific assignment has been made, said center spokesman John Chreno.

Bakker’s transfer to Rochester is permanent although he could be transferred again, Chreno said. He will serve his sentence as a member of the medical center’s general population, meaning he is not being assigned to Rochester as a patient for treatment of any mental or physical illness, he said. Bakker had a breakdown during his trial.

Among the criminals at the prison in this southeastern Minnesota city, which is also the home of the Mayo Clinic, are those convicted of federal crimes who need medical or psychiatric care.

Lyndon LaRouche, the political extremist and former fringe presidential candidate, is serving a 15-year sentence at the facility on mail fraud and conspiracy charges.

Bakker was convicted Oct. 5 on all 24 fraud and conspiracy counts he faced and was sentenced in Charlotte, N.C., on Tuesday, when he also was fined $500,000. He was charged with diverting $3.7 million from PTL to his personal use.

Bakker, if appeals fail, will serve at least 10 years in prison before being eligible for parole.

Unlike most federal prisons, the Rochester facility concentrates security on the perimeter and allows inmates relative freedom inside the fences. There are no bars on windows and inmates do not need passes to move about. Guards do not carry weapons.

Bakker and his wife, Tammy Faye, both have roots in Minnesota. They met while they were students at North Central Bible College in Minneapolis during the early 1960s. Tammy Bakker grew up in International Falls.