This Is What Prison Life Will Look Like For Michael Cohen

Former Trump attorney Michael Cohen is due to report on Monday to the Federal Correctional Institution, Otisville, where he will serve a three-year sentence for tax evasion, lying to Congress and campaign finance crimes. 

Otisville, a medium-security prison, is home to the likes of former NFL star Darren Sharper, Fyre Festival’s Billy McFarland and former reality TV star Mike “The Situation” Sorrentino. 

And according to ABC News, the facility once ranked by Forbes as one of “America’s 10 Cushiest Prisons” will allow Cohen to basically hang out away from his wife, playing horseshoes and working out with a bunch of like-minded criminals. 

The camp does have its allure. About 115 inmates sleep in bunks lined up in barrack-style halls, instead of individual or two-man cells like in higher-security facilities. There are lockers to store personal belongings, washers and dryers for laundry, microwaves to heat up food and ice machines to keep cool.

Alums include accountant Kenneth Starr, who was accused of bilking celebrities like Uma Thurman with bad investments, and former Cendant chairman Walter Forbes and ex-Connecticut Gov. John Rowland. New York Ponzi schemer Bernie Madoff wanted to go to Otisville, but the Bureau of Prisons sent him to North Carolina instead.

Otisville is also known as a favorite among prison-bound Jews for its Kosher meals and Shabbat services.

Add in recreational amenities like tennis courts, horseshoes and cardio equipment, and it sounds like the closest thing the federal prison system has to sleepaway camp. –ABC News

That said, Former Otisville case manager Jack Donson says it’s hardly “Club Fed.” 

“Prison is disrespectful. It’s impersonal,” said Donson. “He’s never going to get any sleep because there’s always lights on, there’s always inmates snoring. There are officers walking around jingling keys. You shower out in the open. It’s very demeaning.”

Donson also said that Cohen – widely known as a “rat” – may qualify for the prison’s protective housing unit over his cooperation with special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation and other probes. 

He’s not a good fit,” added Donson. 

Retired Otisville warden Cameron Lindsay said he would “think long and hard about placing Cohen in a general population, at least in the beginning,” given the “intense media coverage and extreme type of support the president receives from some of his supporters.”

According to the prison’s handbook, inmates are advised to carry themselves in a “confident manner at all times,” trust their instincts and to “choose your associates wisely,” according to ABC

Cohen will check in and be given an orientation, as well as a medical and mental health evaluation. He will then be assigned a job, given clothing, and a set of bedding and towels. 

Before his first month is up, Cohen will be classified and given recommendations for various prison programs. 

During a typical day, per ABC: “During the week, it’s lights on at 6 a.m., followed by breakfast. Work duties, such as mowing the grounds or cleaning up the prison, are performed from 7:30 a.m. to 3 p.m., with a break for lunch at 11. Dinner is served beginning at 4:15 p.m. It’s lights out at 11:30 p.m.”

Inmates get to sleep in on the weekends – with lights on at 7 a.m. 

Otisville, within 35 miles (56 kilometers) of the Orthodox Jewish communities of Kiryas Joel and Monsey, is “definitely sought out by Jewish offenders,” said Matthew Perry, executive director of Jewish Prisoner Services International.

The commissary sells more than 100 kosher items, more than most federal prisons. (Matzo goes for $3.15 and gefilte fish costs $5.15. Need a yarmulke? It’s $6). A rabbi on staff full-time leads the chaplainry. At Passover, the prison puts on an elaborate Seder. –ABC News

“It really makes a difference if you’re Jewish because a lot of guys want to say certain prayers you can only say with 10 Jewish men,” said former Otisville prisoner, Lawrence Dressler – who served 18 months for mortgage fraud, in reference to the Jewish quorum known as minyan. “You have Sabbath services on Friday night, and the prison even allows inmates to bring in food from the outside.

According to the report, the prison observes every Jewish holiday, including Hanukkah, when the men will gather in the chapel to sing. 

“Everyone had their own menorah,” said Dressler. 

“He’ll make a few friends,” he added of Cohen. “Everyone ends up having a couple of good friends.”

via ZeroHedge News http://bit.ly/2VgDAAb Tyler Durden

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