Patrick James Nolan (born June 16, 1950) is an American lawyer, politician and conservative activist.

Political career

In 1978, Nolan was elected to the

California State Assembly The California State Assembly is the lower house of the California State Legislature (the upper house being the California State Senate). The Assembly convenes, along with the State Senate, at the California State Capitol in Sacramento, Califor ...

, serving the 41st district comprising Glendale, Burbank, Toluca Lake and Sunland-Tujunga. He also served the 43rd district. from 1992 to 1994. In 1984, he was elected Assembly Republican Leader, and began an aggressive campaign to elect a Republican majority in the Assembly.

Conviction

Nolan was part of an

FBI The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and Federal law enforcement in the United States, its principal federal law enforcement ag ...

sting operation In law enforcement, a sting operation is a deceptive operation designed to catch a person attempting to commit a crime. A typical sting will have an undercover law enforcement officer, detective, or co-operative member of the public play a rol ...

called Shrimpscam which targeted officials who accepted illegal

campaign contribution Campaign financealso called election finance, political donations, or political financerefers to the funds raised to promote candidates, political parties, or policy initiatives and referendums. Donors and recipients include individuals, corpor ...

s. He was charged with seven counts of corruption. He entered into a plea deal and admitted to one count of

racketeering Racketeering is a type of organized crime in which the perpetrators set up a coercion, coercive, fraud, fraudulent, extortionary, or otherwise illegal coordinated scheme or operation (a "racket") to repeatedly or consistently collect a profit. ...

in 1993. As a now convicted felon, Nolan resigned his seat and was sentenced to thirty three months in prison. He served 25 months in a

federal prison A federal prison is operated under the jurisdiction of a federal government as opposed to a state or provincial body. Federal prisons are used for people who violated federal law (U.S., Mexico), people considered dangerous (Brazil), or those sen ...

and four months in a

halfway house A halfway house is a type of prison or institute intended to teach (or reteach) the necessary skills for people to re-integrate into society and better support and care for themselves. Halfway houses are typically either state sponsored for those ...

. His experiences in prison changed his outlook and the course of his life.

Corrections work

After his release, he was recruited by

Chuck Colson Chuck () is a masculine given name or a nickname for Charles or Charlie. It may refer to: People Arts and entertainment * Chuck Alaimo, American saxophonist, leader of the Chuck Alaimo Quartet * Chuck Barris (1929–2017), American TV produce ...

's Prison Fellowship Ministries to be President of Justice Fellowship, the Prison Fellowship affiliate that works to reform the criminal justice system. During Nolan's time at Prison Fellowship, they have formed broad bi-partisan coalitions with civil rights and religious organizations to support important issues in Congress. They successfully protected religious freedom for prisoners in the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, and the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act. A similar coalition successfully pressed for the passage of the Prison Rape Elimination Act. Nolan was later appointed to serve on the National Prison Rape Elimination Commission, a bipartisan panel aimed at curbing

prison rape Prison rape or jail rape is sexual assault of people while they are incarcerated. The phrase is commonly used to describe rape of inmates by other inmates. It is a significant, if controversial, part of what is studied under the wider concept ...

. Nolan also served on the Commission on Safety and Abuse in America's Prisons. Prison Fellowship was a major force in another left-right coalition that developed legislation to focus prisons on preparing inmates to successfully return to their communities. Called the Second Chance Act, the bill had strong bi-partisan support and passed both houses overwhelmingly. Nolan authored "When Prisoners Return" a guide for churches and community groups on ways they can help prisoners as they make the difficult transition from prison to their home community. His racketeering conviction was pardoned by

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...

on May 15, 2019.

Personal life

Nolan's family includes his wife, Gail, and three children, Courtney, Katie and Jamie. They live in

Leesburg, Virginia Leesburg is a town in and the county seat of Loudoun County, Virginia, United States. It is part of both the Northern Virginia region of the state and the Washington metropolitan area, including Washington, D.C., the nation's capital. European se ...

References

External links