The Detroit Free Press reports former Detroit City Council president Monica Conyers is asking a federal judge to let her serve the remaining time on her prison term at home.
In her three-page letter, Conyers wrote that the court, in issuing her prison sentence, failed to consider her “age, education, vocational skill, employment record, family ties and responsibilities.” In arguing for her release, Conyers wrote that there are “family ties and responsibilities” to consider, noting her child’s caretaker will be returning to school. Conyers urged the court to use its discretionary power to sentence her to “community confinement, home detention or intermittent confinement” to correct what she called blatant sentencing disparities.
Conyers has served 7 months of a 37 month prison sentence on bribery charges connected to the Synagro contract scandal.
The Detroit News reports Conyers is requesting special consideration as she appeals to withdraw her guilty plea.
After her sentence, Conyers tried to withdraw her guilty plea and appealed. She Complained that she pleaded guilty because she was unable to resist pressure from her lawyer, the government and news media, according to an appeal brief. Despite graduating from law school, she bragged about being the only council member with a law degree....she was inexperienced with the criminal justice system, according to her appeal.
Conyers is serving her federal prison sentence at the Alderson Federal Prison, in Alderson, West Virginia. The prison is often refered to as "Camp Cupcake". Media personality Martha Stewart is among the high profile, low security inmates the prison has housed in recent years.
