John Dougherty reports to prison to serve his six-year sentence

For years, John Dougherty sat atop the world of organized labor and politics as the state’s most powerful labor leader. But as of this week, he’s swapping that distinction for another, less desirable title: Federal Inmate No. 77031-066.

Dougherty, 64, reported to the federal penitentiary in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, on Tuesday to begin serving a six-year sentence on bribery and embezzlement charges. His surrender just before 2:30 p.m. followed a last-minute attempt to delay the start of his sentence that was rejected by a federal judge on Monday.

The usually loquacious labor leader did not return calls and text messages from reporters in the hours before his roughly three-hour trip from Philadelphia to the Union County jail that will become his recent home.

But when contacted last week to discuss his impending imprisonment, Dougherty declined to be interviewed, saying, “I am no longer history.”

That note of resignation marked a marked shift from the confidence that had defined Dougherty’s nearly three decades at the head of his union, Local 98 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, and years spent leading the Philadelphia Building Trades Council, the group’s umbrella labor organization.

» READ MORE: ‘I’m guilty’: John Dougherty’s stunning statements at sentencing delivered a twist few saw coming

In these roles, Dougherty developed a reputation in Philadelphia as a one-man force of nature— tireless advocate for union members and a political kingmaker who, with the support of union money and labor, helped elect allies at all levels of local, state and federal government.

His convictions in two federal trials – the first in 2021 on charges that he bribed former Philadelphia City Council member Bobby Henon for years, and the second for the more than $600,000 he and others embezzled from the union – apparently not much affected his self-confidence.

He has repeatedly predicted that he would be vindicated on appeal, a process that began with his first filings before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit earlier this month.

After all, as he boasted in a 2015 conversation with his brother, Supreme Court Justice Kevin Dougherty, which was captured on an FBI wiretap and later played to jurors at trial, “I have a different world than most people ever do.”

But at FCI Lewisburg, Dougherty will be just another of 425 inmates housed in the minimum-security subcamp.

He will join Henon and former Local 98 president Brian Burrows – both of whom are also there serving sentences for their roles in Dougherty’s crimes.

As for the conditions he can expect, those who preceded Dougherty at Lewisburg or similar minimum-security camps gave mixed reviews.

Chaka “Chip” Fattah Jr. — a self-proclaimed tycoon who, like his father, former Democratic Rep. Chaka Fattah, spent time in federal custody — compared his time at the camp in southeast Michigan to living in an Old Town attic.

“There are no doors to the cells,” Fattah Jr. said. The Inquirer in 2017 while serving a five-year sentence for tax and bank fraud. “Think loft style with a desk, two cabinets and a bunk bed.”

There, he said, he spent time reading magazines, taking economics courses, advising other prisoners on their appeals and exchanging postage stamps for pizza-like concoctions that prisoners made on tortillas purchased at the commissary.

However, he admitted that such an arrangement sometimes proved burdensome.

“If I say the wrong thing or sit in the wrong place in the TV room Empireit could lead to a fight,” Fattah said at the time. “There are a lot of arguments here about things that seem trivial to the outside world.”

Former Philadelphia City Council member Rick Mariano — convicted in 2006 on bribery charges — served part of a 6.5-year sentence in Lewisburg, where he spent his days walking, taking classes, eating rice and beans and doing a lot of electrical work.

Rule number 1, said WHY in a 2021 interview: “Keep to yourself.”

He gave advice that could prove useful to Dougherty as well.

“As an elected official or any politician, you want to be friendly to the people. Big mistake in prison,” Mariano said. “Go to the chapel. Go to the gym. Don’t tell anyone about your affairs and stay away from nonsense.

As the date of Dougherty’s surrender approached, he repeatedly tried to delay it. In recent months, he twice persuaded a federal judge to delay the start of his sentence, citing his wife’s poor health and his own recovery from recent surgery.

A similar request made Monday afternoon by Dougherty’s attorney, Greg Pagano, was met with a lukewarm response.

“This isn’t the first time [Dougherty] he advocated delays in justice,” prosecutors wrote in earlier filings, “and if he is allowed to remain free, this will not be the last time.”

U.S. District Judge Jeffrey L. Schmehl responded with a one-line ruling, sealing the fate of the former union leader.

“It is hereby ORDERED,” it read, “that [Dougherty’s] the application is rejected.”