Convicted swindler Bernie Madoff will serve his sentence at Butner Federal Correctional Complex. The “Bernie Madoff Prison” is outside of Raleigh, North Carolina. The Butner complex has two medium security prisons, a medical facility, as well as a minimum security prison camp.
Bernie Madoff Mugshot
The Butner facility is approximately eight hours from New York City. Judge Denny Chin who sentenced Madoff seemed to indicate that he would serve his sentence in the Northeast, but the Department of Prisons made the assignment to Butner.
Butner is home to quite the collection of white collar criminals. It’s almost like a who’s who of fraudsters and scam artists. According to the Wall Street Journal:
Inmates at Butner include Adelphia Communications founder John Rigas and his son Timothy, both found guilty in 2004 of securities fraud. The Rigases are being held in the low-security prison, according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons. John Rigas, 84, is scheduled to be released in 2018, and Timothy Rigas, 53, in 2022.
Former Rite Aid Corp. Vice Chairman Franklin C. Brown is serving his 10-year sentence in a medium-security facility at Butner. Mr. Madoff also could be imprisoned with Al Parish, a former economist at Charleston Southern University who pleaded guilty in 2007 to running what prosecutors alleged was a Ponzi scheme that defrauded investors of $66 million. Jonathan Pollard, a former Navy officer, entered a plea deal in 1987 after admitting to spying for Israel. He was eventually transferred to Butner’s medium-security facility. He is eligible for release in 2015.
That looks like quite the list. I wonder how the prison hierarchy works for white collar criminals. The video below from Anderson Cooper is an interview with a former federal inmate who has started a “prison consulting” business for Wall Street types who are about to enter prison. The guy is pretty strange and I don’t know how seriously you should take this guy, but if nothing else the clip provides some cheap entertainment.
Butner has a reputation for a high quality medical center in addition to the prisons. If you check out the pictures of the facility from the Bureau of Prisons it looks pretty nice, for a prison. It’s not some place I would vacation, but it’s not Alcatraz either.
Life Inside Butner Federal Correctional Complex
In short the Butner Federal Correctional Complex isn’t the worst place in the world to serve a prison sentence. No matter how nice the Bernie Madoff prison is he is still going to be there for the rest of his life. Hopefully the sale of his former assets will give his victims back a portion of what he stole from them. I’m sure this isn’t the life that Madoff envisioned when he started stealing money through his scheme.
July 15th, 2009 at 12:20 pm
[...] Butner Federal Correctional Complex: Bernie Madoff Prison » Right …Convicted swindler Bernie Madoff will serve his sentence at Butner Federal Correctional Complex. The “Bernie Madoff Prison” is outside of Raleigh, North Carolina. The Butner complex has two medium security prisons, a medical facility, …Read More [...]
July 17th, 2009 at 1:28 pm
yeah, right, butner. White collar country club. lets see his ass out picking up trash on the interstate for a while, not some white collar, golf club joint. How about a max security state pen. There is one close by, in Raliegh, you know.
July 18th, 2009 at 1:23 pm
yeah, he got nice digs. figures.
August 26th, 2009 at 10:58 pm
Prescription Lipitor…
Convicted swindler Bernie Madoff will serve his sentence at Butner Federal Correctional Complex. Th [...]…
October 30th, 2009 at 5:35 pm
I spent 17 months at Butner medium-security. When I arrived I felt like I was entering Disneyworld. The lawn was extremely well manicured. There were numerous bushes and shrubs. Yeah, it’s a prison but it sure is a pretty one.
November 24th, 2009 at 9:26 pm
I spent 24 months at Butner. It sure as heck was not Disneyworld. Some comments talk about the nice grounds. Right. One of the jobs you can get in prison is on the grounds crew (pay, about 12 cents an hour). Everyone has to either have a job or go to school for 40 hours a week. Roll call/bed checks about 6 times a day (and through the night, with a flashlight in your face). Constant mental abuse of the smaller/older white prisoners by the tougher black/hispanic prisoners. I had one friend murdered when he was put in protective custody in the hospital.
I didn’t know anyone who thought it was a “country club”. Sure as heck didn’t have a golf course.
Comeon guys. Get real. A prison is a prison, no matter what it looks like. You sure aren’t going anywhere until you have “paid your debt” to society, No one want’s to come back, that is for sure.
December 18th, 2009 at 4:07 pm
well i spent five months there. Its the best prison i been to in my 16 mths fed time. yea roll call all the time got to have a hall pass an stuff. but they do your laundry for you let you walk the grounds . worship who you want. the place was always clean the lawn is damn nice all sports you wanna play no golf but place is the or one of the best prisons in the fed system.