Wayne County jail officials expected the 38-year-old to leave the downtown Detroit facility shortly after midnight. He must meet with state probation officers and is to leave Michigan for a job interview on Wednesday.

A Wayne County Circuit judge ruled last week that Kilpatrick’s destination not be made public, but defense attorney James Thomas and a prosecutor mentioned Texas in open court.

Assistant James Madison College professor Michael Craw said although Kilpatrick will probably lay low for a while, he would not be surprised if he eventually became active in the Detroit community again, though not necessarily in elected office.

“He’s an ambitious guy, and he’s very young,” he said. “Detroit’s his home, I can’t imagine he’d want to go somewhere else.”

Kilpatrick must return to Detroit by Monday Feb. 9. He would need court approval to transfer his probation jurisdiction outside Michigan.

Food management sophomore Mike Dallas, a Detroit native, said Detroit would be better off if Kilpatrick went elsewhere and started fresh.

“I don’t think a lot of people want him back,” Dallas said. “The city already didn’t have a good reputation … and he made it look even worse than what it was before.”

Finance sophomore Lorenzo Herron, also a Detroit native, said although the people of Detroit were tired of Kilpatrick’s antics, he believes Kilpatrick was a good mayor.

“The developments that went on in the city were unheralded,” he said. “The incumbent mayor … who couldn’t run city council, let alone a city, is just a joke.”

Kilpatrick will be on five years’ probation after a plea to two criminal charges.

Kilpatrick pleaded guilty to felony charges involving a sex scandal in September, and was forced to leave office after months of fighting to keep his job. He was ordered to serve four months in jail and was fined $1 million.

The married mayor and former top aide Christine Beatty were charged in March with perjury, misconduct and obstruction of justice for lying under oath about an affair and their roles in the firing of a deputy police chief.

Herron said the people — and not the mayor or city council — are the heart of the city and will prevail regardless of who is in power.

“The people have been resilient,” he said. “We’ve been pretty much on our own.”

Staff writer Allison Bush and The Associated Press contributed to this report.