Disgraced former Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. (D-IL) reported to prison early Monday but was turned away from the facility after an apparent paperwork mix-up, according to media reports.
Jackson’s spokeswoman Bunnie Jackson-Ransom said in a news release that Jackson was accompanied to the prison facility in Butner, N.C. by his attorney C.K. Hoffler and Rep. G.K. Butterfield (D-NC), according to CNN.
But a spokesman for the Federal Bureau of Prisons told CNN that Jackson was not in custody.
Chicago TV station WLS reported that Jackson and Hoffler were still trying to resolve a paperwork issue in the prison’s admission office Monday night. The snag meant Jackson was not technically in custody at the time, according to WLS.
Chris McConnell, executive assistant at the Butner Federal Correctional Complex, told the Chicago Tribune Tuesday morning that Jackson was turned away from the prison. Though he declined to say why Jackson wasn’t admitted, he said reports that the former congressman encountered a paperwork mix-up where “very accurate.”
Court documents showed Jackson was ordered to report to prison no earlier than Friday, according to the Tribune. Jackson was sentenced in August to 30 months in prison for misusing $750,000 in campaign funds.
This post has been updated.
