The 78-year-old was assigned to FMC Lexington in Kentucky, according to Bureau of Prisons online records
QUINCY–Michael McClain reported for his two-year sentence this week at an administrative security federal medical center with an adjacent minimum-security satellite camp, according to the BOP website.
Judge Manish Shah granted McClain until December 29 to report for his sentence as part of the Commonwealth Edison conspiracy case, after what his defense attorney Patrick Cotter called a Bureau of Prisons screw up.
Cotter said he had no comment when contacted by Muddy River News Tuesday evening.
McClain was originally ordered to report by October 30, but BOP failed to provide a location. The court then had to grant a second extension because the BOP misdesignated McClain as needing a Care Level 2 facility, when his attorney said he actually needed a higher level because of his physical limitations and conditions, including prostate cancer.
A federal judge in Chicago sentenced McClain to two years in prison on one charge of conspiring with Commonwealth Edison executives and another consultant to falsify corporate books and records under a provision of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act or FCPA.
McClain worked as a lobbyist and consultant for ComEd after serving in the Illinois House of Representatives in the 1970s and 1980s.
ComEd’s then-Chief Executive Officer, Anne Pramaggiore, was sentenced to two years in federal prison.
ComEd’s Executive Vice President of Legislative and External Affairs and lobbyist, John Hooker, was sentenced to 18 months in prison.
ComEd’s outside lobbyist and consultant, Jay Doherty, was sentenced to a year and a day.
Former Illinois House Speaker Michael J. Madigan was convicted by a separate federal jury on ten corruption charges, many of them related to what the prosecution called the ComEd bribery scheme, and was sentenced to seven and a half years in federal prison and fined $2.5 million. He is in prison in Morgantown, West Virginia.
McClain was last seen at a public event in Quincy during the unveiling of the renovations and new buildings at the Illinois Veterans Home in October.
McClain provided extensive medical records and materials, including a letter from Dr. Charles Howard, former Medical Director for the Bureau of Prisons, detailing multiple medical issues that require a BOP Level 4 medical facility, such as the facilities in Rochester, Minn., a five-hour drive from Quincy and Springfield, Mo., a four and one-half hour ride from his hometown.
The government provided its own medical evaluation, where a current BOP medical official gave the opinion that a Care Level 3 facility could also appropriately house McClain.
FMC Lexington is a Care Level 3 and more than a seven-hour drive from Quincy.
Federal prosecutors had sought a six-year sentence. McClain’s defense argued for probation saying his physical condition could mean he died alone in prison.
Prosecutors characterized his actions as repeatedly overstepping legal lines that were “stunning” and “egregious.”
Again, his defense countered that McClain’s efforts to secure jobs and contracts were legal and protected lobbying.
FMC Lexington houses both men and women inmates. It has a total of 1,242 inmates at last report, with more than 1,000 at the FMC, and the remaining at the camp.
Visitors require advanced approval, which might include a background check.
Inmates are allowed at least four hours of visits per month, although the BOP website says they can be granted more hours, usually on weekends or holidays, with limited visits during the week.
Physical contact is allowed such as handshakes, hugs and kisses that are in “good taste,” according to the BOP.
