YOUNGSTOWN Traficant sentence extended 24 days

One lawyer isn't surprised by the ex-congressman's setback.
By PATRICIA MEADE
VINDICATOR CRIME REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- James A. Traficant Jr.'s projected release from federal prison has been extended by 24 days, meaning the ex-congressman's behavior so far has failed to earn him "good time."
Traficant, 62, of Poland, was sentenced to eight years in prison July 30, 2002. A jury in U.S. District Court in Cleveland convicted him of racketeering, bribery, obstruction of justice and tax evasion.
He is incarcerated at the Federal Correctional Institution at Allenwood in White Deer, Pa. The central Pennsylvania facility is considered low security.
With "good time," which inmates earn by following prison rules, Traficant's projected release was set for July 17, 2009, shaving a little more than a year off his sentence.
The federal Bureau of Prisons Web site now shows his projected release is Aug. 10, 2009.
A prison spokesman in White Deer said Monday that the reason for the revised projected release date computation is not public record.
Hanni's view
"It probably means he got somebody mad at him," Youngstown attorney Don L. Hanni Jr. said Monday.
Hanni said that, in Traficant's defense, some guards will mess with a high-profile inmate. The lawyer said the attitude may be "'You were a congressman on the outside but in here you're just another inmate.'"
Hanni said he detected that attitude by the body language and tone of a guard's voice when he visited Traficant in prison in August 2002.
After that visit, Hanni said that Traficant had been placed in isolation after refusing to work in the kitchen. He said Traficant had wanted to be assigned to a lesser paying job and let a needy inmate work the kitchen duty, which pays about $60 a month.
Prisoners work 71/2 hours each day and, depending on the type of labor, earn from 12 cents to $1 per hour.
When the ex-congressman refused the kitchen duty, prison officials took a dim view of his stance and told him, "You either work in the kitchen where we tell you to work or go into isolation," Hanni said after the prison visit.
Two months ago, The Vindicator learned that Traficant had been placed in isolation again for violating an undisclosed prison rule.
The ex-congressman, meanwhile, has appealed his conviction. Oral arguments were heard Dec. 9 at the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati and a decision is due in 90 to 180 days.
His Toledo attorney, Richard M. Kerger, contends that the jury selection process for his trial was flawed and that expulsion by the House constitutes double jeopardy.
A week before Traficant was sentenced, the U.S. House of Representatives expelled him. His colleagues concluded that he violated three conduct rules based on certain elements in his criminal conviction.