A federal court today rejected an appeal by the former deputy director at the Hudson County jail seeking to overturn his conviction and sentencing.

Kirk Eady was convicted in March 2015 of illegally wiretapping union leaders at the jail in Kearny and then retaliating against union members by changing their work schedules and calling their spouses and accusing them of infidelity. He even registered one union member with the Ku Klux Klan.

Eady was sentenced to 21 months in prison in September, and he is serving his time at a low-security prison in Ashland, Ky. The 47-year-old former high school basketball star is scheduled to be released on July 7, 2017, according to federal prison records.

Eady argued last month that the trial judge erred in three ways -- a government witness should not have testified as an expert, jury instructions were incorrect and the sentencing guidelines range was incorrect.

Using a web service called "Evil Operator," Eady recorded several phone calls in 2012 between senior members of the corrections officers union and the operator of a website highly critical of the jail's administration. As an administrator, Eady had access to employees' phone numbers.

Eady argued in his appeal that Todd Saul, a senior engineer with the company that created "Evil Operator," did not have enough information on the app because he did not join the company until after the app was discontinued. The court found that Saul's testimony regarding Evil Operator was essentially duplicative of Eady's recorded admissions regarding his use of the service.

Eady also argued that the jury was incorrectly instructed, saying the court erred in its definition of "party." Eady argued that he was a party to the conversations because he was on the line, but the appeals court agreed with the trial judge that "party" referred to only those who knew they were involved in a conversation.

Regarding the sentencing guidelines, the appeals court rejected Eady's claim that his position did not play a significant role in the commission or cover-up of the crime. The panel pointed out that his position allowed him access to union members' phone numbers.