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Hastert Released from Prison After 13 Months

Former House Speaker served time for hush-money scheme to cover up sex abuse

Former Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert served 13 months in a federal prison for covering up past sexual abuse of minors. (Chris Maddaloni/CQ Roll Call file photo)
Former Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert served 13 months in a federal prison for covering up past sexual abuse of minors. (Chris Maddaloni/CQ Roll Call file photo)

Former House Speaker Dennis Hastert was released from a Minnesota prison after serving 13 months for a hush-money scheme he used to hide his past sexual abuse of minors.

Hastert, 75, is now either in a halfway house or in home confinement, The Chicago Sun Times reported Tuesday. His official release date had been scheduled for Aug. 16.

Bureau of Prisons online records show the former Speaker is now under the supervision of a Chicago residential re-entry management field office.

Hastert was sentenced to 15 months in prison in April 2016, following his conviction in a pay-out scheme to cover sexual abuse from the 1960s and 1970s. The Illinois Republican admitted to sexually abusing underage boys while he worked as a high school teacher and coach.

The statute of limitations in those cases had expired by the time authorities uncovered the abuse. Prosecutors instead charged Hastert for paying money to one of his victims in return for the man’s silence about the misconduct.

The former Speaker had been serving time in the Rochester Federal Medical Center, which provides medical care for inmates. Hastert, who has diabetes, suffered a stroke before he started his prison sentence.

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