But I can atone. I am now almost 65 years old and, as I enter the twilight of my life, I intend to use the remaining time that God grants me to make amends. Cunningham submitted his official resignation letter to the Clerk of the House and to Californian Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger on December 6, 2005. Sentencing and prison On March 3, 2006, U.S. District Judge Larry A. Burns sentenced Cunningham to eight years and four months in prison. Federal prosecutors pushed for the maximum sentence of ten years, but Cunningham's defense lawyers argued that at 64 years old and with prostate cancer, Cunningham would likely die in prison if he received the full sentence. Judge Burns cited his military service in Vietnam, age and health as the reason the full ten years was not imposed. Prosecutors announced that they were satisfied with the sentence, which was the longest jail term ever given to a former Congressman. On the day of sentencing, Cunningham was lighter than when allegations first surfaced 9 months earlier. After receiving his sentence, Cunningham made a request to see his 91-year-old mother one last time before going to prison. "I made a very wrong turn. I rationalized decisions I knew were wrong. I did that, sir," Cunningham said. The request was denied, and Burns remanded him immediately upon rendering the sentence. Cunningham was incarcerated in the minimum security satellite camp at the U.S. Penitentiary at Tucson, Arizona with a scheduled release date of June 4, 2013. He spent his time at the prison teaching fellow inmates to obtain their GED, as well as advocating for prison reform. Despite his guilty plea, Cunningham received pensions for his 21 years of U.S. Navy service and almost 15 years in Congress. However, prosecutors were successful in garnishing them for back taxes and penalties. In June 2010, Cunningham submitted a handwritten three-page letter to sentencing Judge Larry Burns, complaining that the IRS was 'killing' him by seizing all his remaining savings and his Congressional and Navy pensions, penalties he feels were not warranted under his plea agreement. Burns wrote back in August 2010, stating that the agency was collecting back taxes, interest and penalties on the bribes Cunningham received in 2003 and 2004; thus, there was no action for Burns to take. In April 2011, Cunningham sent a ten-page typewritten document pleading his case to USA Today, the Los Angeles