Former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich left Chicago today for a federal prison in Colorado, where he will begin serving a 14-year sentence as federal inmate 40892-424, reports the Chicago Tribune and Associated Press. He is the state’s second governor in a row to be sent to prison for corruption. Blagojevich, 55, will share a cell the size of a large, walk-in closet with up to three inmates. The impeached governor — who was heard on FBI wiretaps scoffing at the idea of earning a low six-figure salary — will work a menial prison job, possibly cleaning bathrooms or doing landscape work, starting at 12 cents an hour.
Blagojevich’s fame outside won’t do him any good inside, said Jim Marcus, a defense attorney and former prosecutor. “You say you were once the governor of Illinois — no one gives hoot,” Marcus said. “Prisoners are going to say, `You’re in the same boat as me, pal. Now go clean the toilettes.” Marcus added: “After the initial fear of the first days, boredom is the main enemy. Getting up at the same time, eating, working, sleeping at the same time … that’s what gets to so many inmates, and Blagojevich is in for such a long time.”