Former Tennessee State Senator John Ford has been released from federal prison. The Memphis Democrat served more than four years following a bribery conviction. A spokesman for the federal Bureau of Prisons confirms to the Commercial Appeal that Ford was released Monday from a federal prison in Yazoo City, Mississippi.
Inmates are typically released to a halfway house six months before the expiration of their sentences. Ford's five-year sentence expires in February.
The long-time lawmaker, who is now 70, went to prison in 2008 after he was convicted of taking more than $50,000 in cash from undercover agents posing as businessmen seeking favors in the legislature. Ten others convicted, including four other former lawmakers, have completed their sentences.