Former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich
On Dec. 7, former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich was sentenced to 14 years in prison after being convicted in the summer of 18 felony corruption charges. Blagojevich battled the charges for three years, but eventually he was forced out of office, convicted and sentenced for attempting to auction off President Barack Obama’s vacated U.S. Senate seat among other crimes of corruption. Blagojevich was the 40th governor of Illinois and was first elected in 2002. He was re-elected four years later. He won the top spot on the The Associated Press' list of Illinois news stories for 2011. REUTERS/Jeff Haynes

On the first anniversary marking the beginning of his prison stint, Rod Blagojevich’s family said that the former Illinois governor has been passing the time behind bars by learning to play guitar and teaching history to his fellow inmates.

Blagojevich was found guilty last year on 17 counts of corruption-related charges, including one claiming that he tried to auction off Barack Obama’s Illinois Senate seat after Obama was elected president. Blagojevich received a 14-year prison sentence, of which he must serve at least 85 percent -- which comes to just under 12 years.

“We speak with Rod every day,” his wife, Patti, wrote on her Facebook page. “We have visited many times. He is surviving -- trying to make the best of an untenable situation. He teaches a class on the Civil War, is learning to play the guitar and runs miles and miles around the quarter-mile track that is available to him. But what really gets him through is our visits and the faith that in the end this tremendous injustice will be righted. That we will be a family together again soon.”

Blagojevich reported to a low-security prison in Littleton, Colo., on March 15, 2012. He spent his early months working in the correctional facility’s kitchen before being transferred to a job in the library.

She added that the hardest part of life without her husband has been seeing him miss important events in the lives of his family members.

“Unfortunately, those moment[s] have been stolen from my children and there is no getting them back,” she wrote. She did not mention her husband’s appearance on Donald Trump’s “Celebrity Apprentice” show that came after he was forced to leave office.

His lawyers are reportedly working on an appeal but Patti said she doesn’t expect any answers for at least “six months.”