Thompson said he suspected the Bureau of Prisons allowed Ryan to bypass the halfway house because of his age. He will be 79 next month. "A halfway house wouldn't be helpful to him," Thompson said. "They teach people how to write checks, how to construct a resume, how to look for a job."



Thompson said there was no point in Ryan taking the place of another inmate in a halfway house if others would benefit more from the services.



"When you leave the penitentiary, you are sent to either a halfway house or to home confinement," Thompson said. "Home confinement's a regular program of the Bureau of Prisons, just like a halfway house, because they can't fit everybody in a halfway house. So apparently the Bureau of Prisons decided home confinement was a better outcome."



Thompson said Ryan will have to follow the rules of the halfway house even though he is at home.