Longtime Alabama lawmaker John Rogers has been released early from his 13-month prison sentence.

A federal judge granted Rogers an emergency release after the 84-year-old former state representative underwent heart surgery.

“He just wants to get home, sleep in his own bed, enjoying his family for a while,” said John Robbins, attorney for Rogers. “Wish it would’ve been sooner, but you know, the bureaucracy of the federal government moves slowly.”

Robbins said that Rogers has to wear an ankle monitor.

Rogers, a Democrat who served 40 years in the Alabama legislature, went to prison in September for his role in a kickback scheme to misuse public money.

Rogers underwent heart surgery at UAB Hospital on Feb. 19 and was unable to care for himself or perform normal daily routines, according to court filings. At that time, he had already been released from the minimum-security camp in Talladega to the halfway house in Birmingham before his surgery.

Robbins then asked the court to send Rogers home based on his age and medical condition.

“The defendant Rogers is being monitored on the BOP Home Confinement Program,” U.S. District Judge Madeline Hughes Haikala wrote in an order last Friday.

Rogers resigned in March 2024 and pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to obstruct justice, per court records.

Federal prosecutors said that between 2019 and April 2023, Rogers directed about $400,000 of public funds from the community service fund to the Piper Davis Youth Baseball League which was operated by state Rep. Fred Plump.

Plump then sent back about half of that money to Varrie Johnson Kindall, a longtime companion and assistant to Rogers, according to court records. Johnson Kindall then deposited the money for herself and Rogers to use, the records state.

In addition to the baseball league, prosecutors accused Rogers and Johnson Kindall of diverting public funds back to themselves via another local nonprofit, which prosecutors didn’t name in court records. They also attempted to offer $10,000 from the fund to a third organization, an unnamed dance studio, but the owner refused, prosecutors said in court records.

Rogers was also sentenced to three years of supervised release and $197,950 in restitution back to the Jefferson County Community Service Fund, the public fund at the center of the kickback scheme.

“He’ll be released at a certain point when his custodial sentence is finished,” Robbins said. “He will be released and will be strictly on supervised release where there would be no restrictions at home.”

Jefferson County Commissioner Sheila Tyson has visited Rogers since his release. She said the former lawmaker is mobile in spite of two hip surgeries and his recent heart surgery.

“The court found him guilty and he served the time that they extended to him,” Tyson said. “He is no harm to society, and I pray for him every day because he is my cousin and I want the best for him.”

Rogers was the final person in the case to turn himself in.

Plump was also sentenced to prison for his role in the case. And as of March, according to his attorney Richard Jaffe, Plump was also released to go home.

The Federal Bureau of Prisons inmate website lists that he is no longer in custody as of April 3.

“I’m relieved that Fred is back with his family having learned valuable lessons,” Jaffe said.

A federal judge sentenced Plump, 78, to 12 months and a day in prison at a federal correctional facility in Talladega, plus three years of supervised release. Plump also is required to pay back $196,150.45 to the Jefferson County Community Service Fund.

During his sentencing, U.S. District Judge Scott Coogler said Plump would likely serve a few months of actual prison time. His case in federal court has not listed updates since his sentencing last July.

Plump, a Democrat, won state office in 2022. He pleaded guilty in May 2023 to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and obstruction of justice, and resigned after serving less than a year in the statehouse.

Meanwhile, Johnson Kindall, 60, the third person indicted in the kickback scheme, is still serving her three-year sentence at the Aliceville correctional facility. Her release date is Dec. 29, 2026, according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons inmate website.

She pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud, wire fraud and obstruction of justice related to that case. She was also indicted in a separate case in which she stole nearly $88,000 of retirement payments from her parents after they died, per court records.

She also agreed to pay more than $197,000 in restitution to the Jefferson County Community Service Fund, as well as more than $48,000 to the IRS.

Robbins, attorney for Rogers, spoke about how long it took to get his client out after heart surgery. He joked that maybe the Trump administration will speed up things at the Bureau of Prisons.

“Perhaps DOGE will do something about that,” he said, with a laugh. “They’re supposed to be making it more efficient, but I have yet to see that.”