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Enron chief Skilling moved to Jeffco prison

Rocky Mountain News

Published October 24, 2008 at 9:41 a.m.
Updated October 24, 2008 at 9:41 a.m.

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BUDGET 10/23/06 Former Enron executive Jeffery Skilling pauses leaves federal court after being sentenced, Monday, October 23, 2006 in Houston. Texas. Jeffrey Skilling, Enron Corp.'s former chief executive officer, was sentenced to 24 years and four months in prison for his role in the securities fraud that led to the energy trader's collapse. Photographer: Carlos Javier Sanchez/Bloomberg News.

BUDGET 10/23/06 Former Enron executive Jeffery Skilling pauses leaves federal court after being sentenced, Monday, October 23, 2006 in Houston. Texas. Jeffrey Skilling, Enron Corp.'s former chief executive officer, was sentenced to 24 years and four months in prison for his role in the securities fraud that led to the energy trader's collapse. Photographer: Carlos Javier Sanchez/Bloomberg News.

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Jeffrey Skilling, the former Enron Corp. chief convicted in the fraud that destroyed the energy trader, was moved to a low-security federal prison unincorporated Jefferson County, said U.S. Bureau of Prisons Spokeswoman Traci Billing.

The former chief executive officer of what was the world’s largest energy trader began serving his 24-year sentence at the federal prison in Waseca, Minnesota, in December 2006. Skilling, 54, was transferred this month when the Minnesota facility began conversion to a women’s prison, Billing said.

The facility, on South Kipling and US 285, houses 770 inmates, with 171 more in an adjacent minimum-security prison camp.

Skilling will remain incarcerated until 2028, so “his release date renders him ineligible for camp placement,” Billing said.

Skilling is awaiting a decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals in New Orleans on an appeal of his 2006 conviction on 19 counts of conspiracy, fraud, lying to auditors and insider trading. Skilling was convicted with former Enron Chairman Kenneth Lay, whose verdicts were erased because Lay died before he could be sentenced.

Skilling’s friend and former colleague Kenneth Rice, former chief executive officer of Enron Broadband Services, also was moved to a different prison facility. Rice, 50, was serving his 27-month sentence at a federal prison camp in Beaumont, Texas, until he moved to a halfway house in Houston in August.

Rice, who pleaded guilty to one count of securities fraud and apologized for lying to Enron investors, is scheduled for release in February.

Comments

  • October 24, 2008

    10:09 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    wyhammertime writes:

    Let rice do jail time just like the rest

  • October 24, 2008

    10:35 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    Scott writes:

    The "camp" that they are talking about is nick-named "Club Fed". Typically no fences, dormitory style living. OH THE INHUMANITY OF IT ALL ... NOT!

    Here is a link to the Bureau of Prison web site that describes "Club Fed." http://www.bop.gov/locations/institut...
    The Bureau of Prisons calls them "Minimal Security."

    Throw these two S.O.B.s in with Ben Over, Neil Down, Big Willie and Bubba. They deserve it!

    Scott

  • October 24, 2008

    10:48 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    Norseman writes:

    Scott: Obviously you've never driven past the FCI Englewood on Kipling and 285 (not 287 as the article states). The facility has a double fence, with razor wire, and looks like it was built in the 50's. It's the same place where Timothy McVeigh was held during his trial.
    It ain't no Club Fed.

  • October 24, 2008

    11 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    davies writes:

    Stories like this are why I love this country. 24 years! A reasonable person cannot expect universal justice in this world for everyone. But sometimes at least, the fat cats go down just like the peons.

  • October 24, 2008

    11:35 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    Scott writes:

    Norseman,

    There are three facilities there. The one that you describe (administrative detention center) the "Club Fed" and a low security facility. This link to the Bureau of Prison's web site describes the facilities in Lakewood, http://www.bop.gov/locations/institut...

    Scott

  • October 24, 2008

    11:43 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    mytwosense writes:

    This man thought he was invincible. Truth be told, he was a reckless gambler garbed in the respectable patina of a corporate executive. Check out the documentary "The Smartest Guys in the Room" if you're interested in more background about the whole Enron debacle.

    For example, one thing they never got charged for is their role in the California energy crisis some years ago. It will seriously blow your mind that they got away with manipulating the California electricity supply the way they did. There is actually audio tape available of an Enron trader calling a plant manager to shut down the plant for a while under a made-up pretext. The plant manager's response is basically, "Sure! No problem!"

    When you think of how much Californians paid out the nose for those skyrocketing utility bills during that period...

    What's even more disheartening is that Gov. Gray Davis was made the scapegoat, even though he was begging the Feds to do something about this. They turned him down saying the "markets would take care of it" and that California was basically on it's own.

  • October 24, 2008

    12:11 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    davies writes:

    Scott: Notice that the story says that due to the length of his sentence, Skilling does NOT qualify for the 'camp', which is the word for the lowest custody level "Club Fed" area of the facility. In any case, it's a mighty fall from where he used to be.

  • October 24, 2008

    12:23 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    MikeMF writes:

    An hour with some of the Enron Shareholders would probably be worse than 24 years in "Club Fed"

  • October 24, 2008

    12:58 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    Scott writes:

    davies: You are correct. Skilling gets the Low Security prison and Rice gets "Club Fed."

    According to the web site that I originally posted, Skilling's new digs have a double fence around the perimeter, BUT he still gets "dormitory style or cubicle housing." Skilling's housing is actually BETTER than what I had in Navy boot camp back in 1974. However, RTC Great Lakes only had a single fence around it. ;-) Pathetic, truly pathetic.

    Scott

  • October 24, 2008

    1:06 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    Otter writes:

    install a kitchen in his cell and bunk him up with the dog burning lady.

  • October 24, 2008

    1:42 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    nbw9597 writes:

    Scott writes:

    Skilling's housing is actually BETTER than what I had in Navy boot camp back in 1974. However, RTC Great Lakes only had a single fence around it. ;-)

    All you needed was a single fence - you had Sheridan Rd. and North Chicago all around you to keep you on the base! :)

  • October 24, 2008

    2:22 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    Scott writes:

    HMMMmmmmm, sounds like nbw9597 knows the place :-)

    Actually, watching the Jarheads march the maggots around Camp Porter was enough to keep in line. Jeeze, talk about a group, the Jarhead brig detail, that was humor impaired! I still remember a group of maggots being marched on the base of which one of the maggots was not only in handcuffs, but also leg irons. That maggot had its own person Jarhead Sargent attending to it :-)

    Scott

  • October 24, 2008

    2:22 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    dwood writes:

    As long as we are talking about unscrupulous pigs, Skilling, Lay, Rice, etc...what's happening with that thieving bastard Joe Nacchio, anybody know?

  • October 24, 2008

    2:23 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    Buff4Life writes:

    This guy got what he deserved. Wonder where Andy Fastow is. He was the worst/stupidest/greediest one of them all.

    I imagine we'll see more of these guys in about 5 years when we hear how Lehman Bros., etc., went under.

  • October 24, 2008

    4:09 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    xeeian writes:

    | "For example, one thing they never got charged for is their
    | role in the California energy crisis some years ago. It will
    | seriously blow your mind that they got away with manipulating
    | the California electricity supply the way they did. There is
    | actually audio tape available of an Enron trader calling a
    | plant manager to shut down the plant for a while under a
    | made-up pretext. The plant manager's response is basically,
    | "Sure! No problem!"

    | When you think of how much Californians paid out the nose for
    | those skyrocketing utility bills during that period...

    | What's even more disheartening is that Gov. Gray Davis was made
    | the scapegoat, even though he was begging the Feds to do
    | something about this. They turned him down saying the "markets
    | would take care of it" and that California was basically on
    | it's own."

    Yeah, that was Bush's decision. And Bush owed Enron and Ken Lay big time, Ken and Eron being his biggest campaign bundler, and hell, California didn't vote for Bush. Why should he care? The same way he cared about New Orleans.

    Davis should have forced the issue, by deploying the CA National Guard and taken over the plants, but he didn't. He just ineffectually pissed and moaned.

    The money from screwing California helped keep Eron around for a while longer, but the house of cards eventually fell. Then Lay went from being called "Kenny Boy" to "Ken who?"

  • October 25, 2008

    12:39 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    CyberHostage writes:

    So it's "Jeff to JeffCo" for Mr. "Mark to Market".

  • October 25, 2008

    4:47 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    windbourne writes:

    My bet is that a bunch of these ppl will have their sentence reduced to time served by W when he leaves office. The vast majority of the ppl caught in all this Texas-Style Accounting scandal were hard core neo-cons. W will let them out and expect loads of support to the pubs.