Former Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., D-Ill., will serve 30 months in prison for stealing $750,000 from his campaign funds, a district court judge ruled Wednesday after Jackson tearfully apologized for his wrongdoing.
Additionally, Jackson Jr. will have two years of supervised release and will have to serve 500 hours of community service. Jackson's wife Sandra Jackson, a former Chicago alderman, will serve one year in jail after pleading guilty to a tax charge related to the misuse of her husband's campaign funds. The Jacksons will have to pay back the $750,000 they stole but pay no other fines.
Before hearing his sentence, Jackson Jr. openly wept in court.
"I let a lot of people down," he said, blowing his nose and apologizing to the American people, his constituents and his family. He asked the judge to send him to prison in Alabama, "so I can be as far away from everyone."
His father, Rev. Jesse Jackson, also cried in court, wiping tears from his eyes, while his mother Jacqueline Jackson sat stoically in the court room.
The former congressman pleaded guilty earlier this year to one count of conspiracy after he spent $750,000 in campaign funds on personal expenses like a gold-plated Rolex and fur capes for his wife.
Federal prosecutors wanted Jackson Jr. to spend four years in jail, while the former congressman's attorney, Reid Weingarten, asked the judge to give him an 18-month sentence. Jackson Jr. "was not Bernie Madoff," Weingarten argued, and deserved leniency.
A number of Jackson Jr.'s supporters wrote to the judge, asking her to show leniency for a variety of reasons, including his health problems. While under investigation last year, Jackson struggled with his mental health. He spent four weeks at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota last summer in treatment for bipolar depression. Jackson Jr. filed information in court under seal pertaining to "personal and medical information" about the family.
The prosecutor said Wednesday that while bipolar disorder is serious, it did not cause Jackson to do what he did. "These were serious abuses," he said.
