SPRINGFIELD - U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin said Tuesday he is considering asking President Bush to commute the prison sentence of jailed former Gov. George Ryan. | Bush's pardon list includes Central Illinois man

"I'm in the process of reviewing that at this point," Durbin said. "That is a decision only the president can make."

In a Springfield news conference Tuesday, Durbin said he's mulling putting the request to Bush after speaking with Ryan's wife, Lura Lynn. The two worked together on an Abraham Lincoln bicentennial group.

Ryan was convicted on corruption charges in 2006 and is now serving his sentence at a federal prison in Terre Haute, Ind. The former governor has been in prison for about a year, and is scheduled for a 2013 release date.

Reached at home in Kankakee, Lura Lynn Ryan said she didn't want to talk about Durbin's comments.

Durbin said Ryan's attorneys didn't ask the senator for help.

The Springfield Democrat said he definitely wouldn't be asking Bush to fully pardon Ryan, therefore wiping the former governor's record clean. Durbin is only considering asking Bush to let Ryan out of prison.

Bush pardoned 14 people and commuted two other sentences this week. Presidents often use the end of their terms to consider various pardons. If a president commutes a sentence or pardon's someone, it's final.

Durbin said Ryan has already paid a price.

"His family name has been damaged. He is at an advanced moment in his life removed from his family," Durbin said. "He has lost the economic security which most people count on at his age, and he is separate from his wife at a time when she is in frail health."