Former Ohio Rep. Bob Ney is back in the workforce after being released from prison last month, according to TheHill.com.

Ney is working in Columbus, Ohio, for the Talk Radio News Service. His longtime friend Ellen Ratner, a self-described "proud liberal" who is the TRNS bureau chief, confirmed to the Web site that Ney is working for the communications company while the ex-lawmaker stays in a halfway house.

Ratner said the arrangement had been in the works for months and she hoped to make Ney a political contributor once he is placed on probation. She said she hopes to make that transition as soon as August.

"The Bureau of Prisons won't let him be on-air," Ratner told TheHill.com. "He's doing our daybook; he does research."

She added that some TRNS staffers were initially skeptical but are now convinced that hiring Ney was a good move.

In February, Ney was released from a Morgantown, W.Va., prison to a halfway house in Ohio.

Ney pleaded guilty in 2006 to corruption charges and was sentenced in January 2007 to serve 30 months in prison, but was released early.