Living Large in the Big House

The severity of Madoff's sentence changes his options. A lighter sentence might have allowed Madoff's team to negotiate his placement from medium security to low, based mostly on his age and notoriety, says Ellis; a 150-year sentence means he will now have to lobby to go from high security to medium. Medium security facilities look similar to low-security institutions, but the inmates are much more likely to be inside for violent crimes. If Madoff gets medium security, says Webster, "He will be assaulted, there's no doubt about that." It's that much of a certainty? "God, yes. Oh, God, yes."

Given the importance of security level, inmates may or may not find comfort in the dry, data-driven method the Bureau of Prisons uses to assign security levels and determine where a prisoner ends up. Form BP-337 is used to calculate a prisoner's Security Point Total—a measure of such factors as age (older is better), history of violence and escape, and other considerations. Has the inmate not completed high school or a GED program? Add two points. Is the current offense of moderate severity (e.g., assault, auto theft, burglary, child abandonment)? Five points. Was surrender to the U.S. Marshals or prison voluntary? Subtract three points.

White-collar offenders hope to limit their BOP security points to 11 or fewer, which makes them eligible for federal prison camp, or 15 points, the most you can accrue for a low-security designation. Prison consultants try to exert influence on marginal scores and can also introduce other considerations like medical history or, in extraordinary cases like Madoff's, risks to a client's safety because of extreme notoriety.

After a security level is determined, prison consultants try to get their clients placed in facilities with the best programming and jobs, partly in hope of reducing the time served (some inmates can get out a year early by completing a drug-addiction program), but mostly to relieve boredom. Most white-collar criminals in prison camps are serving sentences of three to five years, says Webster. "You don't need training, you don't need education, you just want to do your time in the easiest way possible," he says.

Where will Madoff likely be sent? Madoff's attorneys could attempt to have him assigned to prison in Florida by arguing that Ruth Madoff will permanently move to their home in Palm Beach. That would make the low-security prisons at Coleman (50 miles northwest of Orlando, and home to Conrad Black) or Miami (actually 30 miles outside the city) possible destinations, speculates Ed Bales, managing director of Federal Prison Consultants LLC. Even if Madoff's team attempts such a maneuver, Bales says, it's more likely that he will still be kept in the Northeast, perhaps at Allenwood, Pa., or Ray Brook, N.Y., because of the volume of ongoing legal actions against him from clients in that region. That would be in keeping with BOP policy, which calls for assignments within 500 miles of a prisoner's last address.

But even if Madoff serves time in Florida, Webster cautions that the state's prisons aren't exactly "Club Feds": "I object to that [terminology]. They're not going to be playing tennis and golfing; these are straight-up prisons. The guards point to an area and say, 'If you go past that, we view it as an escape, and we will shoot you.' You call that camp?"

Still, some facilities have better reputations than others. The complexes at Pensacola and Devens, as well as Sheridan, Ore.; Duluth, Minn.; and Rochester, Minn., are considered relatively cushy, as federal prisons go. That often involves climate, more modern facilities and staff with better reputations. Duluth is sought after because it's a stand-alone facility, not adjacent to a higher-security institution, as most camps are. And the Rochester prison is renowned for its proximity to the Mayo Clinic, affording inmates who may need it exceptional medical care.

While many prisoners hope to "upgrade" to a less secure facility after some period of good behavior in their current placement, Madoff will not likely have that option. "The [Bureau of Prisons] will look at this as terminal placement," Webster says. "I don't see him getting less than 20 years, and not many people live to their 90s in a prison environment. Wherever he lands, he's going to die."

© 2009