Spano won't like prison, wherever he goes
There is a handy guide for nearly everything, even for federal prisons.
Weighing in at 574 pages, “The Federal Prison Guidebook” is recommended reading, or at least skimming, for Nick Spano, who was supposed to begin a one-year-and-a-day prison sentence tomorrow, but on Friday was granted a two-week extension.
Spano’s lawyers had asked for the extension because a federal correctional facility had not yet been designated, leaving open the chance that the former state senator would’ve had to temporarily cool his heels someplace else, like the Westchester County jail, which, as jails go, is no Holiday Inn.
Where Spano, 59, will eventually end up is open to speculation.
Getting into the “right” prison isn’t a simple process. There are no guarantees. If it were easy, there would be no need for a guidebook.
According to co-author Alan Ellis, who is an attorney based in San Francisco, the book provides vital information about the programs and services at each of the 114 federal prisons spread across the country — and it tells how defense counsels can use judicial recommendations to get their clients into a prison of their choosing.
Ellis contends that his guide is consulted heavily and that when he identifies himself to other lawyers they say, “Oh yeah, I got your book.”
For obvious reasons, defendants want to be incarcerated within driving distance of their homes. The policy of the federal Bureau of Prisons is to assign an inmate no farther than 500 miles from the place of residence.
Yet there are no guarantees.
A judge can request a particular prison, but the actual decision is made by the Department of Probation and that decision is often guided by the availability of beds.
Spano is a classic white-collar criminal. His crime was income tax fraud, for which he pleaded guilty. He is a first offender. What’s more, he has expressed contrition.
So that narrows things down considerably. Spano is strictly a minimum-security type of inmate.
At his June 18 sentencing, his lawyers requested that he be assigned to either one of two minimum-security camps, Schuykill in Minersville, Pa., or Devens, which is outside of Boston. Those requests were supported by Judge Cathy Seibel, who sentenced Spano to one year and a day. What difference does a day make? Well, under federal guidelines, that extra day means that with good behavior he can get out in 10 months.
Another prison possibility for Spano that’s been bandied about is Otisville in Orange County, which houses 1,200 low-security inmates. It is located about 73 miles from Yonkers.
Anybody motivated by greed would find a certain cultural cachet in Otisville. In the beginning of the 2010 movie, “Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps,” Gordon Gekko, the greed-is-good character played by Michael Douglas, is released from Otisville after serving an eight-year stretch for insider trading. A real-life inmate at the prison is Kenneth Starr, the mastermind of a $30 million Ponzi scheme, who was hiding in a closet at his lush Manhattan apartment when he was nabbed by the cops.
Otisville also ranks sixth on a list of “best places to go to prison” that was compiled by Ellis for CNBC earlier this year.
Ellis said this is because Otisville caters to “observant Jews.” It has a strong religious program and apparently is the only federal prison that boasts a full-time rabbi.
Spano is a Roman Catholic, but Ellis said, “It’s a good camp in any respect.”
In case you’re interested, the No. 1 prison in Ellis’ estimation is the federal camp at Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery, Ala. Inmates are allowed to work outside as gardeners.
One was assigned as a landscaper at a general’s house.
“The general’s wife would invite him in the afternoon for lemonade and cookies,” Ellis said.
Without a designated prison, Spano could’ve been held over at the county jail — at least that’s what Seibel said at the June sentencing. The odds on that always seemed slim to none.
However, Spano told The Journal News on Friday that if he didn’t get the extension, he feared he would be sent to the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Manhattan, which, along with the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, is more confining than the other federal prisons.
Ellis said that was a real possibility. “That sucks,” he added.
As far as that goes, it appears Spano doesn’t have to worry. Nevertheless, prison in any form will come as a cold splash of water to a man who was once an Albany kingpin and the No. 3 power broker in the Senate. Spano was always in control.
When the jail door slams behind him, he will no longer be in control of anything. They will tell him when to eat and sleep.
He will be just another number in prison khakis.
That really sucks.