Former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman is to be released from federal prison this week after serving about six years for a bribery conviction, a former aide told Al.com today.

Siegelman, 70, has been told that he will be released Wednesday, Chip Hill, a friend and former aide to Siegelman stated in an email.

"He will be on very restricted supervised probation for an initial period of time," Hill stated. "This is expected to be about six months."

"Following that, he (Siegelman) will be on unsupervised probation for an extended, but not yet specified, period of time," Hill stated. "Immediately after returning home, he will report to an assigned probation officer who will provide him with much more detailed information about what restrictions he will have, including specifics regarding media access."

"Naturally, his family and many friends are very excited about his release and very much look forward to seeing him," Hill stated.

Siegelman's official end of sentence is Aug. 8.

Efforts to reach a Federal Bureau of Prisons spokesperson were unsuccessful prior to publication of this story.

Siegelman was convicted by a federal jury in 2006 on charges he sold a seat on a state health regulatory board to HealthSouth founder Richard Scrushy in exchange for $500,000 in donations to Siegelman's signature political issue, his 1999 campaign to establish a state lottery. He was convicted on a separate obstruction of justice charge that he tried to hide money he received from a lobbyist.

Former U.S. District Court Judge Mark Fuller originally sentenced Siegelman to 88 months in federal prison, but in 2012 reduced it to 78 months.

Siegelman served nine months of his original sentence before being released in March 2008 on an appeal bond. A federal appeals court tossed out two of the charges against him, which prompted the sentence reduction. Siegelman returned to prison in September 2012 to finish his sentence.

Siegelman and his supporters have contended the case was politically motivated. But he has so far lost his appeals.

Siegelman has been serving his prison sentence at the federal prison at Oakdale La. He was recently denied clemency by out-going President Barack Obama.

While serving his sentence Siegelman got in trouble in prison and was placed in solitary confinement after calling a talk show and talking about his claims of innocence, his son said at the time.

When he is released, Siegelman, who was also a former Alabama Attorney General from 1987-1991, won't be able to practice law. He was disbarred by the Alabama State Bar.

Siegelman was disbarred effective June 7, 2012 by order of the Alabama Supreme Court based upon the decision of the Disciplinary Commission of the Alabama State Bar accepting Siegelman's surrender of his license and consent to disbarment, according to the Alabama State Bar's Alabama Lawyer publication. The disbarment was based upon his federal felony convictions.

After a disbarment an attorney can file to be re-instated after five years, which would be June 8.

Scrushy was sentenced to 82 months in prison. His sentence ended in July 2012. But like is apparently happening with Siegelman and most other inmates when they are within about six months of ending of their sentence, Scrushy was placed into a community corrections program, which can include home detention. In Scrushy's case he was moved from federal prison in Beaumont, Texas to a halfway house in Houston Texas in April 2012 and within weeks placed on home detention.