Former Illinois Speaker Michael Madigan to report to federal prison at 2 p.m., Oct. 13

(WTVO) — Michael J. Madigan, once the most powerful lawmaker in Illinois, is scheduled to report to federal prison at 2 p.m. Monday, Oct. 13, to begin serving a 7.5-year sentence for corruption.

U.S. District Judge John Robert Blakey handed down the sentence earlier this year after a jury convicted Madigan on 10 counts, including bribery, conspiracy, wire fraud, and using a facility to promote unlawful activity.

Madigan, 83, is also ordered to pay a $2.5 million fine.

The sentencing marks a dramatic fall for the longtime Democratic leader, who served in the Illinois House from 1971 to 2021 and held the speaker’s gavel for all but two years between 1983 and 2021. Madigan also chaired the Democratic Party of Illinois for 23 years and led Chicago’s 13th Ward Democratic Organization.

Blakey called the case “really sad” during sentencing, adding, “Being great is hard, but being honest is not.”

Assistant U.S. Attorney Sarah Streicker argued that Madigan’s damage to Illinois politics surpassed even that of former Gov. Rod Blagojevich, who was convicted of public corruption and later pardoned by President Donald Trump.

“Governors, they came and went over the years, but Madigan stayed,” Streicker said. “His power and his presence remained constant. The primary harm is the erosion of trust in government.”

Political experts say Madigan’s conviction is a rare but not unprecedented moment in Illinois politics. Brian Gaines, professor of state politics at the University of Illinois, said he was surprised by the outcome.

“I always thought he was a master of control and someone who had figured out just how to tiptoe along the lines of legality but stay on the right side,” Gaines told The Center Square.

Gaines noted that Illinois has seen other powerful figures fall from grace, including former U.S. House Speaker Dennis Hastert, who was sentenced to 15 months in federal prison in 2016 after pleading guilty to illegally structuring cash withdrawals. That case followed accusations that Hastert sexually abused students decades earlier.

“There was a time when you had to clarify which speaker you meant—Madigan, the most powerful man in Illinois, or Hastert, a prominent national figure who also ended up in prison,” Gaines said.

Still, Gaines believes the public’s memory for political scandal is short.

“If you’re not someone who follows politics closely, I think the news that a former speaker is going to prison might make people shake their heads, but they’ll have forgotten most of the details,” he said. “It fades fast.”