Former U.S. House Speaker Dennis Hastert is due to report by Wednesday afternoon to a federal prison in southeastern Minnesota that has held other disgraced VIPs, including a former congressional colleague and a televangelist.
Starting his 15-month sentence in a hush-money case caps an already epic fall from being second in line to the presidency to an admitted child molester. Prosecutors say the 74-year-old Republican sexually abused at least four boys when he coached high school wrestling.
The nation's longest-serving GOP speaker will be known as Inmate No. 47991-424 and becomes one of the highest-ranking U.S. politicians to ever do prison time.
Hastert must show up at the Rochester Federal Medical Center by 2 p.m. Wednesday, but Hastert, who has been free on bond, could choose to report earlier to elude a crush of reporters and TV cameras.
The 64-acre prison specializes in health care for physically ailing or mentally ill inmates, and is near the Mayo Clinic. Hastert nearly died from a blood infection and suffered a stroke after he pleaded guilty on Oct. 28 last year, and has diabetes.
The facility is encircled by razor-wire fencing and holds around 800 inmates from all security classifications. The prison's large population of child molesters should lessen the chances Hastert would be singled out for attacks in a prison culture in which those who hurt children are considered the lowest of the low.
