ATLANTA - Michael Vick was back in Atlanta, the city where he rose to NFL stardom, but as a prisoner rather than a player, an official said Friday.

Federal Bureau of Prisons spokeswoman Felicia Ponce said the suspended Atlanta Falcons quarterback was moved to a medium-security unit in southeast Atlanta from Virginia, where he had been held while attending a bankruptcy hearing last Friday.

Ponce declined to say if authorities plan to move Vick back to a penitentiary in Leavenworth, Kan., where he has served most of a 23-month sentence for bankrolling a dogfighting ring.

Vick's lawyers did not immediately return messages seeking comment.

The 28-year-old is scheduled to transfer to home confinement May 21 in Hampton, Va., and is set to be released from federal custody in July.

The move comes as the fallen NFL star is wrestling in bankruptcy court over what he has called his "exit strategy" _ a plan to repay creditors with the millions he hopes to resume earning in professional football.

A federal bankruptcy judge rejected the plan last Friday, saying there was no guarantee that Vick would be able to resume his NFL career. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell has said only that he will review Vick's status after he is released from prison.

Vick's plan would have allowed him to keep the first $750,000 of his projected annual salary. Creditors would get part of any amount over that.

Vick was once one of the NFL's highest-paid players, but lavish spending and poor investments, coupled with the backlash from his dogfighting case, led to his downfall. He filed for bankruptcy in July, claiming assets of $16 million and debts of more than $20 million.

Since then, he has lost nearly all the record-breaking $130 million from a 10-year deal he signed with Atlanta in December 2004.

A service of the Associated Press(AP)