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Jesse Jackson Jr.
- Jesse Jackson Jr.
- Government & Politics
- October 2012
- Federal Campaign Law Violations
- Thirty Months in Federal Prison
He carries the name of his famous father, the well-known civil rights leader Jesse Jackson.
Jesse Louis Jackson was born in Greenville, South Carolina and was raised on the south side of Chicago.
Before embarking on his own political career, Jesse Jr. worked on his father's 1984 Presidential campaign and with his civil rights and social justice organization, Operation PUSH.
He was elected to Congress in 1996, but by October 2012 he was investigated for misuse of campaign funds, among other financial misdeeds. A month later, citing mental and physical health problems, including clinical depression and bipolar disorder, he stepped down from Congress and apologized to his famous dad.
But it wasn't enough to stop the long arm of the law and by February 2013, Jesse Jackson Junior admitted violations to federal campaign laws, using campaign funds to make personal purchases.
He pleaded guilty to one count of mail and wire fraud and was sentenced to two and a half years in federal prison in North Carolina in August 2013. However, after a skirmish with prison guards who were angered when he began advising fellow prisoners about their rights behind bars, he was reportedly put in solitary conferment for several days.
Jackson was eventually cleared of wrongdoing and was granted his request to transfer to another facility. He was then moved to a minimum-security prison camp in Montgomery, Alabama.
Jackson was released from the federal prison camp in Montgomery on March 26, 2015 and was transferred to a halfway house in Washington, DC.