Do "Country Club" prisons exist?

[Archae]

I've been thinking about this, what does the prison Bob McDonnell will be going to look like?

And what about other rich/famous lawbreakers?

[jberryhill]

1. Allenwood Low

[MohRokTah]

2. Yeah, they exist.

The rich insure they exist because they all know they are criminals and at some point could be forced into a show of doing time.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

3. There are minimum security prisons that aren't like Leavenworth.

But it's still prison and it's no fun. http://www.cnbc.com/id/49506680#.

[Hippo_Tron]

4. No they don't

Watch Orange Is the New Black. The stories aren't totally true, but the basic conditions of the prison are very much inspired by Piper Kerman's memoir from doing time in a minimum security facility.

[Cleita]

5. They are called Club Feds.

Of course that's back when Wall Street and political bad boys were sent to prison. Maybe they don't exist anymore since none of the white collar criminals seem to go to prison anymore.

[Louisiana1976]

7. Yeah--they get bailed out instead.

[Suich]

6. Lompoc used to be.

Don't know about now, though.

[NV Whino]

10. It's still listed as minimum security

A doctor I know was just sentenced there. I checked the roster. It's mostly financial crimes, but there have been, and are, some tough characters in there. I hope dear old doc enjoys his stay.

He took a plea for Medicare fraud and was sentenced a year and a day for tax evasion. Couldn't have happened to a more deserving guy.

[cheapdate]

8. Yes, they do. Montgomery, Alabama

is home to a federal, minimum security prison. It's comfortable and has decent amenities. It puts the "camp" in "prison camp".

[SoLeftIAmRight]

9. Yes - this is true -

I have a friend that spent some time in the prison on the Air Base. He was in during the time when one of the Watergate guys was in. My friend now teaches English in the same prison. The inmates line the ball fields and other "hard" labor.

[Nye Bevan]

11. Federal Prison Camps:

Minimum security institutions, also known as Federal Prison Camps (FPCs), have dormitory housing, a relatively low staff-to-inmate ratio, and limited or no perimeter fencing. These institutions are work- and program-oriented.

A number of BOP institutions have a small, minimum security camp adjacent to the main facility. These camps, often referred to as Satellite Prison Camps (SCPs), provide inmate labor to the main institution and to off-site work programs.

http://www.bop.gov/about/facilities/federal_prisons.jsp

I still wouldn't want to be in one of those places.

[Live and Learn]

12. Sure they do but

they are in Norway and they actually work to rehabilitate people. Imagine that.



http://content.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,1989083_2144218,00.html

Prison systems around the world are generally predicated on a two-step system: Punish the crimes, rehabilitate the offender. Some countries like the U.S. tend to focus on the punishment. But Norway is a shining example of what can happen when the focus is put on the rehabilitation.

In Norway, there is no death penalty and the maximum sentence is 21 years, meaning that every prisoner will someday be released. Because of that, Norwegian Correctional Services design and run their prisons to help inmates grow, or at least not diminish, as people so that they might effectively rejoin society after their release.

"In the law, being sent to prison is nothing to do with putting you in a terrible prison to make you suffer," Bastøy Prison governor Arne Nilsen told the Guardian. "The punishment is that you lose your freedom. If we treat people like animals when they are in prison they are likely to behave like animals. Here we pay attention to you as human beings."

Located on Bastøy Island about 46 miles south of Oslo, Bastøy Prison is a prime example of this ethos. Cells have televisions, computers, showers and toilets. Prisoners have access to a variety of classes in general education and specific skill-training. Though the inmates are counted several times a day, they're given relative freedom — they work in stables, bike repair shops, timber mills or grow crops. There's even a prison band that performs regularly and was given permission one year to attend a ZZ Top concert.

http://mic.com/articles/81233/norway-treats-its-inmates-like-people-the-result-is-a-system-america-can-only-dream-of

[Tom Ripley]

13. Butner is no Hilton, but also not a hellhole

[TeamPooka]

14. I knew a guy who spent time at FCI McKean near Erie PA for transporting pot across state lines

It was a lot of pot.
McKean is a medium security federal correctional institution with an adjacent minimum security satellite camp.
He spent about 3 years in the minimum security camp.
He had several roommates like the former mayor of Bridgeport CT,who was in aon a corruption charge and a lot of stockbrokers.
He was a really funny guy and told me a lot of great stuff like how they would get everything from booze to cell phones smuggled in and how some guys would even skip out during the night to meet their girlfriends at the nearby motel.
I wanted to turn it into a TV series but Orange is the New Black beat me to it.

www.bop.gov/locations/institutions/mck/
Federal Bureau of Prisons

[rufus dog]

15. Yeah, I drove by one in Yankton, SD

I think it was Yankton. Anyway it was an old Jr. College or High School in the middle of a neighborhood. No fences, just a line on the sidewalk. Inmates were playing chess, basketball, softball. Yeah you are in prison, but hey far from horrible.