Abramoff sent to halfway house

Disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff has been released from prison and
admitted to a halfway house somewhere in the mid-Atlantic region, a
Federal Bureau of Prisons spokesman confirmed.

Abramoff was released Tuesday from a minimum-security federal prison
in western Maryland to a halfway house and could be allowed to spend
the last few weeks of his sentence in home confinement before his
scheduled release date of Dec. 4, spokesman Edmond Ross said.

He was sentenced in 2006 to nearly six years in prison for conspiracy
to commit wire fraud involving the purchase of a Florida casino cruise
ship. In 2008, he was sentenced to four years for his role in a
wide-ranging corruption scandal that led to the convictions of former
Rep. Bob Ney (D-Ohio) and other lobbyists and Bush administration
officials.

The sentences were modified to a total of 48 months by court order.