Minimum-security federal prisons, where the majority of non-violent felons in the U.S. serve out their terms, are no joke, says the Toronto Star. Even the lowest-security prisoners are confined for the length of their terms and must follow many of the same rules and restrictions that apply at high-security installations. “It’s not Yale, it’s jail,” Dennis Faulk, a former U.S. Bureau of Prisons employee. “We don’t separate a white-collar guy from an organized-crime guy from a bank robber.”
The “White Collar Crime Prof Blog,” run by U.S. law professors, posted on the Internet a list of the “nicest” prisons for white-collar criminals – most of them federal prison camps. They include a facility at Pensacola Naval Base in Florida where inmates can do landscaping for the admiral in command and are served lemonade by the admiral’s wife; and the federal camp in Texarkana TX where inmates can fish at a local pond. The worst thing, says an ex-corporate felon, is the powerlessness. “You’ve been giving orders your whole life, and now there’s this buffoon with an IQ of 20 telling you to clean the toilet,” he said.