Former Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., who is on home detention as he nears the end of his prison term for looting his campaign fund, has been given a four-day furlough beginning Friday to attend his grandmother’s funeral in Greenville, S.C.
In August, Jackson, 50, received a four-day furlough in August to visit his grandmother, Helen Burns Jackson, who was ailing at the time. She died in Greenville on Monday at age 92.
She is the mother of the Rev. Jesse Jackson, the civil rights leader who is the father of Jackson Jr., a former Democratic congressman from Chicago.
Jackson Jr. is scheduled to be released from Bureau of Prisons’ custody on Sept. 20, officials said. After that he will be on probation for three years. His 30-month term was handed down in 2013.
Thirty days after his release, his wife, Sandi Jackson, 51, a former Chicago alderman, must surrender at an unspecified federal prison for a one-year term. She has asked for placement in a prison in Marianna, Fla.
The ex-congressman looted about $750,000 from his campaign treasury to pay for personal items, including celebrity memorabilia, vacations, furs and restaurant tabs. His wife filed false tax returns with the Internal Revenue Service. Both pleaded guilty.
Jackson Jr.’s furloughs were approved by the sentencing judge, Amy Berman Jackson, who is no relation.
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