Scott Fawell thought he’d be grieving behind bars in April 2004 when his father, one-time Chief Judge in DuPage County, Bruce Fawell, suddenly passed away from complications with Alzheimer’s Disease at the age of 76.
"I was thinking I’m not going to be able to go," Fawell recalled Thursday during a sit-down interview at his north suburban home. “If I do (get permission), it’ll end up being a pleasant surprise.”
At the time, Fawell, who had been George Ryan’s longtime Chief of Staff, was six months into a prison sentence for his role in the government corruption scandal which eventually took down the former governor.
"I know George as well as anybody... I know the pain he’s going through while sitting in Terre Haute (the Federal Camp where Ryan is imprisoned), hoping to get out," said Fawell.
Attorneys for Ryan have filed a motion for an emergency furlough from his jail sentence so he can be with his wife, former First Lady Lura Lynn Ryan, who was hospitalized Wednesday and who doctors say has hours to live.
Fawell said that in his case, it was "a 24 hour scramble" to get permission to attend his father’s funeral. His family took his emergency request to court while he filed a separate appeal with his warden. In the end, the Bureau of Prisons granted his request for a brief taste of freedom.
"I probably left at 8:30 that morning and I was probably back at 1 (p.m.)," he said. "I got to see everybody that means something to me in a situation where we got to interact, and it was somewhat surreal because you’re free, but you’re really not, because in the background of the room are two -- one FBI agent and a Bureau of Prisons Employee -- ready to take me back.”
Fawell, who is now a government and political consultant, said it helped him grieve to be with his family. And he said his former boss should get the same accommodation to be with his terminally-ill wife before she dies.
“It is normal BOP, Bureau of Prisons, policy that if you have a loved one that passes or is about to pass, they do you let you out on furlough," he explained. "The part that bothers me is everybody is screaming, 'Oh, he’s getting all this special treatment,' and it's really not."
Fawell, who served a sentence of nearly four and a half years, ended up being a critical prosecution witness against Ryan. His felony conviction prohibits him from communicating with the former governor, but he said he has conveyed his sympathies by way of mutual friends.
"They know my thoughts are prayers are with them," he said.
Fawell describes Lura Lynn Ryan as "sweet" and "kind," but deceptively "more powerful than people thought."
He said it doesn’t surprise him that the 76-year-old former first lady is now waging a desperate fight for one last chance to say goodbye to her husband of more than 50 years.
“We used to do some of the boy’s trips, the golf outings. We all didn’t bring out our spouses or significant others, but he always brought her. She was always there at every event. They just were inseparable," said Fawell.
