Former Chicago Public Schools CEO Barbara Byrd-Bennett has reported to Alderson Federal Prison Camp, a minimum security facility in West Virginia.
Byrd-Bennett reported Monday to serve 4 ½ years for steering $23 million in no-bid city contracts to education firms for a more than $2 million kickback.
It was a tearful 68-year-old who stood before U.S. District Judge Judge Edmond Chang in April to learn her fate. Byrd-Bennett apologized before learning her punishment, saying: “What I did was terribly wrong. ... I’m ashamed and I’m sorry.”
The minimum security prison Byrd-Bennett reported to also goes by the nickname “Camp Cupcake.” It was where businesswoman Martha Stewart served five months for lying to the FBI about alleged insider trading in 2005.
Performance pay for any work Byrd-Bennett may do is capped at 40 cents an hour and $5.25 a month, well below the $250,000 a year she earned as schools CEO.
