It was a memorable moment in the run-up
to the corruption trial of
Antoin "Tony" Rezko when the onetime political high roller complained to a
judge that he had to share underwear at Chicago's federal jail.
Rezko, used to a cushy life in his
Wilmette mansion, had been locked in solitary confinement 23 hours a day
in the downtown Metropolitan Correctional Center. His attorneys called
conditions at the high-rise jail "disgusting" and said Rezko never got to
breathe fresh air.
So now that word has circulated that Rezko is considering cooperating in the
federal probe of corruption in state government, all that has changed, right?
Clean linen, better magazines, an extra scoop of ice cream after dinner?
Nope.
More than four months after his fraud conviction and weeks
after his possible cooperation went public, the former fundraiser for Gov.
Rod Blagojevich is still in the jail's Special Housing Unit for
"administrative reasons," spokesman Vincent Shaw says.
"The primary administrative reasons are to ensure the security and safety of
Mr. Rezko and to ensure the security and order of the institution," Shaw said
in an e-mail. In other words, Rezko remains a high-risk inmate.
"While the conditions are more restrictive than those in the general
population, Mr. Rezko continues to have access to the same general privileges
given to inmates in the general population," Shaw wrote.
Rezko's lawyers long have suggested in public that their client wasn't
receiving any privileges, but they declined to comment for this column.
The U.S. attorney's office also declined to comment on Rezko's possible
cooperation or the conditions of his incarceration. Prosecutors usually limit
their involvement in such custody decisions to instances in which they fear a
cooperating witness could be in danger.
If prosecutors haven't played a role in Rezko's continued solitary
confinement, that means he is neither being squeezed to make up his mind nor
being punished for dragging his feet.
Still, all eyes are on Rezko as he sits on the fence, considering a deal to
help prosecutors possibly find further corruption in the Blagojevich
administration. And although the U.S. attorney's office would insist that no
one is playing hardball by keeping Rezko in "the hole," no one seems to be
doing him any favors either
