Ellington

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Former Mississippi Corrections Commissioner Christopher Epps could get up to 23 years in prison when a judge sentences him Monday.

U.S. District Judge Henry T. Wingate is scheduled to decide how long Epps will be locked up. The former prisons chief pleaded guilty in February 2015 to money laundering and filing false tax returns related to $1.47 million in bribes prosecutors say he took.

Epps has already agreed to forfeit $1.7 million in assets, including cash, brokerage accounts, a house, a beachfront condo and two luxury cars.

Defense lawyer John Colette told Wingate in January that he was seeking to drive down the government sentencing recommendation from the maximum 23 years. Wingate could accept the government recommendation, or sentence Epps to some other length of imprisonment.