Former Alabama Governor Released From Prison

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (CN) – After spending more than six years behind bars after his conviction on bribery charges, former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman was released from Oakdale Federal Prison in Louisiana Wednesday morning.

Siegelman, who has been serving a 78-month sentence for a 2006 bribery conviction, is being released into a community corrections program in which he will serve the remaining six months of his sentence on home detention.

His sentence runs through August 8.

Siegelman was denied a presidential pardon or commutation from President Barack Obama as he left office.

Chip Hill, the Siegelman family's spokesman, confirmed in an email to media outlets and on the Free Don Siegelman Facebook page that the former governor was due to be released this morning.

According to the Facebook page, Siegelman was en route to Birmingham Wednesday morning and his supporters were encouraged to wave “welcome home” to him as he arrives in the city at around 4 p.m. this afternoon.

Siegelman will go straight to his probation officer where he will be fitted with an ankle bracelet. The former governor will spend the rest of his sentence on home detention and he will be placed on supervised probation possibly until 2020.

Federal Bureau of Prisons Officials at the prison in Oakdale, La., declined to comment.

Siegelman was convicted in 2006 on federal corruption charges after being accused of allowing HealthSouth founder Richard Scrushy to buy a seat on a state health regulatory board by arranging a $500,000 donation to Siegelman’s campaign.

The former governor was sentenced to 88 months in jail, but he was released on appeal after serving nine months at the Oakdale facility.

In 2012, when the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear the case, and Siegelman was resentenced to 78 months in prison;  10 months less than his original sentence. Subsequent appeals were denied.

Siegelman was elected as governor in 1999 and is the only person in Alabama to hold all four of the top elected spots in the state -- governor, lieutenant governor, secretary of state, and attorney general.

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