In a front-page interview with The Wall Street Journal on June 17, 2006, Skilling claimed, among other things, that he had been melancholic after the Enron bankruptcy and considered suicide , but that his indictment actually ended his depression ; that the worst witness against him was himself; and that he will be able to survive a long prison term as long as he is given "something to do, something to accomplish" while in prison.
On October 23, 2006, Skilling was sentenced to 24 years and four months in prison, and fined US$45 (equivalent to $52.91 in 2015) million. The case was appealed but all of his convictions save one were ultimately upheld, as was his sentence. Skilling's request to remain free during the appeal was denied by Judge Patrick Higginbotham of the 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals on December 12, 2006. In ordering Skilling's immediate imprisonment, the judge wrote, "Skilling raises no substantial question that is likely to result in the reversal of his convictions on all of the charged counts," [27] although the order also noted "serious frailties" were possible in some (but not all) of the convictions.
Skilling began his sentence on December 13, 2006, [28] and is currently housed at the Montgomery Federal Prison Camp, Maxwell Air Force Base, Montgomery, Alabama. According to the Federal Bureau of Prisons , he is scheduled for release on February 21, 2019.