CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The one year federal prison term of former Massey President and CEO Don Blankenship officially ends Wednesday but Blankenship has been at his Las Vegas home for the last 30-days on home confinement.
Before the home confinement stint, Blankenship was at a federal halfway house. He self-reported to Taft Federal Prison in Taft, California last May after a federal appeals court denied an appeal to keep him out on bond while his attorneys appealed his conviction.
Blankenship was found guilty in December 2015 on a misdemeanor charge of conspiring to violate federal mine safety laws. His appeal of the conviction was eventually rejected.
Blankenship ran Massey Energy when a 2010 explosion at the Upper Big Branch Mine in Raleigh County killed 29 miners. The investigation into the deadly blast led to charges against Blankenship related to safety issues at the mine.