By Rob Manker, Chicago Tribune –
CHICAGO — Two months into her husband’s sentence, Patti Blagojevich has shared her thoughts on visiting the Colorado prison where former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich is serving 14 years for corruption.
In comments posted to her Facebook page Monday, she spoke of her family’s most recent trip to Federal Correctional Institution-Englewood.
“We spent the weekend in Denver visiting Rod,” Patti Blagojevich wrote in the post. “He was so happy to see us and we were so happy to see him.”
But the visits, of which the family has made at least two, appear to be taking a toll.
“That visiting room has to be one of the saddest places on earth though,” she wrote. “All those little kids visiting their dads. It breaks your heart.”
Sam Adam Jr., one of Rod Blagojevich’s defense attorneys during his first trial, said late last month that Patti and the couple’s school-age daughters, Annie and Amy, had visited the former governor sometime before Adam did on April 22.
Rod Blagojevich reported to prison March 15 after he was convicted last June of 17 criminal counts, some of which involved his attempt to sell the U.S. Senate seat once held by President Barack Obama.
In his first trial, in 2010, the former governor was also convicted of one count of lying to the FBI.
Blagojevich, 55, could be released in 2024, after serving the required 85 percent of his sentence.
