(MCT) — CHICAGO — He once ran the state of Illinois, but former governor-turned-federal inmate George Ryan will soon be taking classes on how to write a check and what to wear on a job interview as he starts his transition back to the free world weeks from his 79th birthday.

Ryan, nearing the completion of his 61/2-year term for a corruption conviction, is due to move by Wednesday from his prison camp in Terre Haute, Ind., to a federal re-entry center, better known as a halfway house, on Chicago’s West Side, according to several sources close to the family.