Schlichter was incarcerated at FCI Williamsburg in Salters, South Carolina and later spent time at FCI Florence in Florence, Colorado. According to The Indianapolis Star, he continued to gamble while in prison; he had women place bets for him and was running a Super Bowl ticket scheme from inside prison. When prison officials learned about it, they cut off his email access for 90 days. He was released from federal prison on August 18, 2020, and transferred to Ohio state custody to serve the remainder of his sentence. His lawyers had attempted to get the remainder of his sentence waived for health reasons. However, Franklin County Common Pleas judge Chris Brown took a dim view of the request, saying that Schlichter was "past the point of rehabilitation" and had not shown that he would "conduct (himself appropriately)" if released. Brown added that he was sympathetic to Schlichter's health concerns, and would have been more than willing to grant an early release if there was any evidence of remorse. However, Brown said, Schlichter had "demonstrated over and over" that he could not be trusted.