By AP/KWMU
KANKAKEE, Ill – Former Governor George Ryan left his home in Kankakee early Wednesday for the more than 250-mile trip to the prison in Oxford, Wis., where he's slated to serve his six-and-a-half-year sentence.
The 73-year-old Republican waved to a horde of reporters gathered outside his home but didn't stop to answer any questions. He was accompanied by his wife, Lura Lynn Ryan, and other family members as he got into a two-toned van for the trip.
Ryan is required to report to Oxford before five p.m. to start serving his racketeering and fraud sentence.
His last bid to remain free failed Thursday when Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens refused to grant him bail.
Stevens made his decision less than 24 hours after Ryan's lawyers made an urgent plea for bail while he waits to find out if the U.S. Supreme Court will hear his case.