Former House Speaker Jim Black is being moved to a prison closer to home.

The Charlotte Observer reports that Black, a Mecklenburg County Demcrat, was en route late Friday to a federal prison in Jesup, Ga., 300 miles south of Charlotte, according to former Mecklenburg commissioners chairman Parks Helms, a friend of Black's who also served in the state House.

That's more than 200 miles closer to home than his former prison in Lewisburg, Pa.

Last month, more than 150 friends of Black - including Helms, Matthews Mayor Lee Myers and former Republican Gov. Jim Martin - wrote letters to federal prison officials asking for leniency because of the failing heath of Black, 74, and his wife.

They also wrote letters to President Barack Obama, asking that Black's sentence be commuted.

Helms said he fears nothing short of commuting Black's sentence will allow his ailing wife to see him.

Black's wife, Betty, has degenerative Lou Gehrig's disease and Helms said he feels the move doesn't get Black close enough to her.

“It doesn't matter whether it's a hundred miles or 200,” Helms said. “She's just actually got limited time. … I think a commutation now is really the only thing that can give her and probably (Black) some relief.”

UPDATE: An official at the prison in Jesup confirmed Saturday that they do have an inmate named James Black.

Read more after the jump.

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