Bernie Madoff's hellhole: Ponzi schemer is caged 23 hours a day, gets bad food and few visitors

[CatWoman]

Ponzi schemer Bernie Madoff is being held in a super-max wing of the Manhattan federal lockup - a unit so tough it drives hardened criminals mad, the Daily News has learned.

It's known as 10 South.

Located on the 10th floor of the Metropolitan Correctional Center, the high-security wing has housed the city's toughest mobsters and most bloodthirsty terrorists.

John A. (Junior) Gotti was there, as well as his archrival, Michael (Mikey Scars) DiLeonardo.

On 10 South, the 70-year-old Madoff is treated more like a lab rat than a vaunted Wall Street financier once entrusted with billions of investment dollars.

The lights burn 24 hours a day, and an inmate's every move is caught on video. Madoff gets just 60 minutes a day outside his 8-by-8-foot cell - in wrist shackles.

Windows are blacked out so disoriented inmates can't catch even a glimpse of the world outside.

What passes for food is slipped through a narrow slit in a stainless steel door that fronts a spartan cell - cold in winter, scorching hot in summer.

No interaction is permitted between inmates or guards. Only a ranking officer is allowed to remove a prisoner from his tiny cell.

Lawyer visits are few and far between. Reading material is almost nonexistent.

http://www.nydailynews.com/money/2009/03/19/2009-03-19_bernie_madoffs_hellhole_ponzi_schemer_is.html

[eleny]

1. At first, I thought for sure this was some sort of satire

K&R, toots!

[CatWoman]

7. I kinda feel sorry for him

:shrug:

[Maraya1969]

13. Yea this sounds like torture. Painting windows black and leaving

the lights on 24/7? That just sounds mean....for all the prisoners in there.

[petronius]

23. I agree - much of what they describe seems designed to cause discomfort

rather than to increase safety (of guards or inmates). The article keeps harping on the prisoner who stabbed a guard as if it's relevant to Madoff...

[GaYellowDawg]

31. And I say good. That SOB shouldn't be comfortable a single day the rest of his life.

Ask his victims how comfortable they are with matters.

[DIKB]

57. Some you can't.

They committed suicide when they realized everything they saved and invested was stolen and gone like a fart in the wind because of this greedy asshole.

I'm with you, I say, "GOOD!"

[Hekate]

80. I know. That's just wrong. What the hell kind of justice system is this? Blacking out windows...

... serves no useful purpose whatsoever.

Hekate

[surrealAmerican]

119. That's the same detail that has me wondering.

The limited interaction may well be for his own protection, but blacking out the windows is complete nonsense. We can't expect to have any moral authority if we won't treat prisoners humanely.

[roguevalley]

133. our prison system is barbaric. most of these guys are getting out and people

forget that. they don't get it that they might cross paths with people who lived like this for x number of years.

[Hekate]

141. At some point we simply gave up on rehab and went for pure vengeance. No good comes of that.

:-(

[eleny]

39. I'm not there yet

His permanent incarceration will probably be less harsh. White collar criminals most often get the softer accommodations. Then we'll be ticked about that.

Given that some committed suicide over the losses he's responsible for, I'm not going soft on the guy right now. I'm still waiting for his accomplices to receive justice.

[csziggy]

120. If he gets over some number of years, he is not eligible for the white collar prisons

And will be housed in a maximum security prison with ax murderers and convicted terrorists. Since he could be sentenced to as much as 150 years for the charges he's already plead guilty to, chances are he will get more than the number required - something like 50 years. He will die in prison unless a judge lets him out.

[eleny]

137. I'm just not working up any pity yet

I think it's because some people took their lives because of his scam.

Thanks for the information about his probable fate.

[csziggy]

140. No pity from me - and IMO his family should probably be locked up, too

I've said it before - I believe that Bernie may have some fatal illness and he is taking the blame all on himself to let his sons and wife off the hook. I believe they were all in on the deal and should all love everything they own and be locked up for the harm they have done to so many.

[backscatter712]

2. With any luck, he'll lose his fucking mind.

At least we can hope.

Enjoy your new hellhole, Bernie. Feel free to talk to the walls - eventually, they'll talk back...

[LakeSamish706]

3. I can't feel much sympathy for Bernie either.... He certainly didn't give much...

thought to the people who's lives he has ruined.

[Name removed]

4. Deleted message

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[malaise]

15. Those pictures never fail to shock me

Who does that to fellow human beings? Who told them that was legal?
:puke: :puke: :puke:

[inna]

103. thanks for the reminder. that's another reason to prosecute the criminal bush-cheney gang.

bipartisanship my ass. prosecute the MF*ckers.

:grr:

[TexasObserver]

5. These kind of incarcerations are inhumane.

No matter what the criminal has done, these kind of sensory deprivation techniques are offensive in a civilized society. The incarceration is the punishment. It should not be made unbearable, no matter the crime.

[Donnachaidh]

11. I'm sure he didn't give a moment's thought to the people and organizations he bankrupted

And prison is a frigging cakewalk compared to the problems he brought on his victims. :nopity: :nopity: :nopity:

[TexasObserver]

19. Your comment is irrelevant to mine.

It doesn't matter if he personally beat them all to death, his imprisonment conditions are inhumane.

A measure of a society is how it treats those who are incarcerated. Guilty or not, heinous or not, they deserve humane treatment while incarcerated.

[Donnachaidh]

24. and your comment is irrelevent to the crime

He DESERVES every moment of hell he's brought on himself. Use *him* to make a point about prison conditions -- excuse me while I :rofl:

[TexasObserver]

27. Perhaps one day, you'll adopt progressive values.

He deserves to be imprisoned, not treated inhumanely. Perhaps you should spend more time reading up on progressive values and what they entail. A key element has long been the humane treatment of prisoners, many of whom have done much worse than fraud or theft.

[EFerrari]

79. We're not judged by how we treat sweet old ladies who drop a dozen eggs in a market

but precisely by how we treat people like this scumbag.

What would you suggest, a return to the Code of Hammurabi? Good grief.

[Diane R]

40. Thank you.

[TexasObserver]

65. Thank you. What happened? When did this basic tenet of our side slip away?

I didn't think I'd ever live to see those who consider themselves progressive take on the talking points of the right wing and call for vengeance in our prisons. It's disgusting, and it's offensive.

[babythunder]

94. So you get to personally define Progressive values?

:shrug:

[mitchum]

97. Of course, that's what holier-than thou posturing Armchair Gandhis do

[glitch]

16. Agreed. We are supposedly better than this.

We sure act like we are anyway.

[TexasObserver]

25. We have lost our moral authority.

I am shocked that there are so many who post on a progressive site who fail to understand the difference between punishment for a crime and inhumane treatment of prisoners.

[GaYellowDawg]

32. This isn't inhumane treatment.

Why don't you tell us, though, the posh setup you'd give Madoff. Egyptian cotton sheets, cable TV, and gourmet meals, perhaps? This guy deserves a spartan existence.

[TexasObserver]

35. Of course it is inhumane.

The problem is you don't understand what the word "inhumane" means. When you learn it, we can continue this conversation.

[GaYellowDawg]

36. Really? I think the problem is that

you overuse the word. What do you propose for Madoff? House arrest in the lap of luxury? Your spirited defense of this criminal who has caused so much hurt to so many people is appalling. I think the real problem here is that you don't have any idea what the word punishment means.

[TexasObserver]

37. Yes, really. Inhumane = lacking pity or compassion.

The conditions in which they have him are inhumane.

Lights on 24 hours a day.

Extreme isolation.

Unable to see the outside world at all.

Shackles the short period of time he's out of his cell each day.

These are not bona fide tools of punishment for a criminal whose misdeeds are economic. Even for the most hardened, the most dangerous of prisoners, these conditions are inhumane.

He's lost everything and he's imprisoned the remainder of his life. THAT is his punishment.

[GaYellowDawg]

45. Here's where you've lost perspective.

"a criminal whose misdeeds are economic"

So bloodless. As if only money was involved. This criminal impacted people. Lives. There are plenty of people who lost everything on account of him. Limiting his mobility while providing him a comfortable life is not punishment enough. He learned to sleep with his misdeeds. Let him learn to sleep with light.

[Name removed]

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[TexasObserver]

126. My perspective is just fine.

You want vengeance. I want imprisonment for criminals that is humane.

[varkam]

121. Ahhh the old coddling gambit.

Because there's absolutely no middle ground between being buried alive and being treated like a prince.

[TexasObserver]

129. These themes are not new, are they?

We've heard all this before, just not from other Democrats.

Prison is prison, under the best of circumstances.

I'm shocked that there are so many who think the purpose of prison is to make the criminal's life unbearable. It's uncivilized.

[glitch]

68. We certainly have.

Only I don't think DU was ever a progressive site, sadly. At best it was "left center", or at the very least, "attentive center". But the climate changed even from that once the rest of the "center" realized their betrayal by the "right center" and found DU.

[TexasObserver]

71. There is a general left of center population here, but some of that is just personal interests.

Here are some of the things that indicate a lack of generally progressive values:

*An attitude that the death penalty or harsh incarceration are fine.

*An attitude that gays should be more reasonable dealing with discrimination.

*An attitude that women should consider the opinions of others when considering abortion.

*Support of censorship of words or thoughts.

*Hostility toward unions.

*Hostility toward trial lawyers.

[glitch]

73. All Reactionary, which does tend to increase when society gets unpredictable and

economically depressed. I think people become so fearful they can only think in black and white. Also, in pre-Alzheimers, interestingly.

[TexasObserver]

130. Yes, in bad economic times, fear drives anger and a desire for revenge.

[inna]

93. i for one completely agree with your posts in this thread. thanks! :) NT

[TexasObserver]

131. Thanks. Trying to keep the flame burning.

I can't believe we still have to stand up for the rights of the imprisoned in the year 2009. This country has gone backwards in the treatment of the incarcerated.

[EFerrari]

76. I agree. America the Degraded.

[TexasObserver]

127. Bush and Cheney have rubbed off on some citizens.

This attitude that prisoners should be treated poorly is a fairly new phenomenon in modern times.

[EFerrari]

138. Imho, it will be years before we recover our footing as decent people

because the abuse we have been through in the last 8 years has affected even the way we think about other people.

[Deja Q]

98. It seemes Bernie did a big part in removing more than just senses from his victims.

:shrug:

[TexasObserver]

128. He's a scoundrel, and for that he's imprisoned the remainder of his life.

We hear the same kind of justifications for the death penalty as we do for harsh treatments of other prisoners. The issue isn't whether they "deserve" it. The issue is "how do we treat the imprisoned?"

[panader0]

6. He's lucky he's not in a general population.

He'd probably get shanked.

[CatWoman]

9. you've got an excellent point there........

[C......N......C]

28. He would probably be a hero in general population.

These are no people working on their master's. Those guys thrive on sticking it to other people.

[dysfunctional press]

48. guys will be taking notes on what he says to them...

after they make him toss their salad, of course.

[Richard Steele]

70. No. He's a billionaire white guy con artist. He's no hero to GeneralPopulation.

If he had stolen his Billion$ face-to-face with a gun,
THAT might make him a hero in GP. They respect the fact
that crime involves personal risk.

But a slimy weasel who committed his crimes with big words
and fancy paperwork? ZERO respect from GP. Quite the opposite.

The no-name-no-fame little punk who SHANKED him
would have 15 minutes of fame within those walls,
and that would be it.

[Last Stand]

81. Don't forget...there are dangerous people who don't want him talking.

He's not worth much alive to anyone other than the government. That's not the best scenario for someone doing time.

[Richard Steele]

95. And we all know that's the REAL reason he's in maximum-solitary.

There are only TWO reasons that prisoners go to Solitary:
Because they are a threat to the other residents,
or for their own protection.

This guy is locked down tighter than Hannibal Lector.
The GUARDS can't even open his cell door- it takes two
SUPERVISORS to turn their keys at the same time to even
open that door to let him stretch his legs.

So, which reason do you think he's in there for?
Ya think this little old dude is a THREAT to the other residents,
or do you think that MAYBE he needs this level of security
so he can stay alive long enough to testify against his co-conspirators,
and cut himself a deal whereby he might see some SUNSHINE again
before he sdhuffles off this mortal coil?

You don't gotta be Einstein to do the math for this one, Itellyawhut.

[tblue37]

113. Then why must he be shackled? nt

[Richard Steele]

123. Procedure. Formality. Theatricalilty is 90% of any good illusion.

Ask yourself the same question you just asked me:
Why is he shackled?

Gee, do you think it's because his hands pose a THREAT
to the guards, or any of the other residents? PFFT.

The last time his hands expressed EFFORT was when the
cork broke off halfway as he was opening a $5000 bottle of claret.

The shackles are for SHOW.

WHO the show is intended to decieve... remains to be seen.

[Hepburn]

8. .....

:applause:

[VeraAgnes]

10. I believe that this is the best

he will ever get from this day forward.

[BlooInBloo]

12. I'm ok with that.

[WhiteTara]

14. those 50 thread count sheets

are the part that is making him crazy!. Just think of the come down on thread count. I love it. He can now really sleep poorly.

[NV Whino]

17. I wouldn't want to suggest he be placed in a white collar farm

but that seems a bit severe for someone who is not a physical threat to humanity.

[Last Stand]

83. Why should he get anything better than someone caught stealing tv's?

There has already been at least one suicide connected to this crime, not to mention countless lives ruined, charities destroyed and an economy shaken with mistrust.

The average bank robber steals $3k and gets 8 years in the same jail as poor Bernie. What Bernie did was worse by FAR.

Boo fucken hoo.

[C......N......C]

18. So why didn't he have an escape planned ?

I am not condoning law breaking, but it would seem he would have planned an escape if he was so smart. I did some work for a guy that turned out to be a multi million dollar drug trader. When the feces hit the fan, he disappeared. His case was the result of a sealed indictment, so he had all the T's crossed.

[dysfunctional press]

50. in the beginning, it was arrogance, more than likely...

he probably never thought it would come to this.

at this point- there's probably a lot of guilt and shame behind it all.

[Celebration]

20. Why?

Seriously, this is ridiculous. He should be in for life, that's for sure. But he isn't at risk for being violent. He and every other prisoner should be treated humanely, and these conditions should be reserved for people who commit violence within the prison system.

[varelse]

21. the possibility does exist

that this high level of security is intended more to protect him, than to punish him.

[notadmblnd]

22. he'll be transfered as soon as he's sentenced

probably to some nice minimum security federal prison where life is like living in a country club. If I don't find employment, I'll be living on the street in 6 months. He'll still have a warm bed, medical care and three meals a day. I have no sympathy for him.

[customerserviceguy]

26. This is the Daily News, people

For those of you not familiar with it, think of it as the New York version of Weekly World News. I have no doubt that it's an exaggeration to sell this fishwrap to all the people in NY who salivate at the thought of Bernie Madoff suffering. They get a few quotes from some mob lawyers whose "clients" were in there, and they run with it.

Besides, he'll be sentenced soon, and will be going to a lockup that is designed for long-term confinement. It'll do Bernie some good to have a bit of soul-searching time.

[Stephanie]

38. Completely wrong. The Daily News is a legit newspaper with excellent reporting.

It doesn't sound as if you're familiar with it yourself.

[blogslut]

41. But don't you think that article is just a wee bit

embellished?

[customerserviceguy]

54. I pass by the sensationalistic front pages of it

practically every day. It's a tabloid, pure and simple.

[Stephanie]

56. It's a tabloid-sized paper, yes. But it's not anything like the Weekly World News

You might like to OPEN the paper and read it some time. Have you read Elizabeth Benjamin? Helen Kennedy? Thomas DeFrank? The Washington bureau is excellent as is the local reporting. Don't confuse the Daily News with the NY Post.

[customerserviceguy]

58. I have read it

and the columnists you mention are indeed worth reading. But it is sensationalist, just about all the papers in this area are.

I guess it's a matter of perspective, I just moved to this area less than two years ago from the Pacific Northwest, and they avoided the sensationalism that I routinely see in papers around this area. I used to love reading the PI during my days as an office worker in Seattle, occasionally, they'd run a really funny column from a guy who published a weekly paper way out on the Olympic Peninsula. I later moved to that community, and saw how a progressive person could really change the debate in what might otherwise be a small-town community with small minded values.

I don't get that from any of the NY papers. It would not surprise me in the least that the Daily News would want to gin up a bit of red meat to serve up to people who feel very, very burned by Bernie Madoff, and would like to focus on the harder parts of his current residential arrangement. I'm sure he gets TV, I read someplace that he has Internet access, and in any case, he's not really being tortured.

But I'd bet a lot of people who have contributed to Jewish charities in the area would be more likely to pick up a paper that described his life as hell.

[Froward69]

29. ROT you greedy fuck!!!

I bet he thought he would get a slap on the wrist... all those years of arrogance will surely haunt him now...

[GaYellowDawg]

30. Good. Fuck him. I hope he spends the rest of his life there.

All the other corporate bastards on Wall Street who wrecked the lives of others should live out their days like this, too.

[rug]

33. Is there a good reason to incarcerate anyone like that?

[GaYellowDawg]

60. I'd say there are a few billion reasons.

:(

[rug]

69. That won't get them back.

[GaYellowDawg]

74. Punishment never makes up for the effects of the crime.

That doesn't mean it shouldn't happen. I've never known of a punishment that brought a murder victim back... but that doesn't mean the murderer shouldn't be locked up.

[smoogatz]

34. Good. May it send shivers down the spines of all the other scam-artists

on Wall Street. It's about time somebody made an example of this guy, IMO. As for those who worry that his treatment is too harsh: first let's work on improving conditions for the other 775,000-or-so non-violent offenders currently incarcerated in state and federal prisons in this country, none of whom, I can pretty much guarantee you, stole as much or did as much damage to as many lives as Mr. Madoff.

[wackywaggin]

42. Bernie,

hope he remembers his boy scout knot tying techniques.


:smoke:

[mitchum]

43. He should be drawn and quartered

[dysfunctional press]

49. what other parts of the bill of rights do you disagree with...?

i mean, besides the one about no cruel or unusual punishment...? :shrug:

[mitchum]

52. Maybe you consider it cruel and unusual...

I guess that's just a matter of personal taste, isn't it?

[dysfunctional press]

61. actually, no- it's a matter of social conscience.

some people have it- others obviously don't...:shrug:

[mitchum]

82. Thank you, Armchair Gandhi

[varkam]

109. Would you rather be an Armchair Gandhi or an Armchair de Sade?

Hint: It's a rhetorical question.

[mitchum]

114. See: post 111

if you haven't already done so

[dysfunctional press]

125. your welcome...

armchair this guy:

[varkam]

107. Actually it's a matter of law.

But don't let that stop your torture fantasy.

[mitchum]

116. Aren't they serving a late supper at the soup kitchen?

Shouldn't you be there helping out, Mahatma?

[varkam]

118. Hey - it's not my fault you didn't understand the fine distinction between "preference" and "law"

I'm just trying to help you out here, mitchum.

[nancyr]

44. Good. He richly deserves it.

[Crabby Appleton]

46. Boo fuckin hoo

[JVS]

47. Good.

[dysfunctional press]

this kind of incarceration has no place in a civilized society,

which is probably why they're so popular in the good ol' u.s. of a.

[Poll_Blind]

51. Boo fucking hoo. Read response #22 by notadmblnd. n/t

PB

[madokie]

59. good deal

maybe others will think twice before engaging in such criminal behavior

[NM Independent]

62. Good. Let him rot.

For too long guys like him have gotten off far too easy. We need to start "making an example" out of these people.

[soothsayer]

63. Makes you wonder why he turned himself in (or had his boys do it)

My guess is he wanted the feds to protect him from some seriously pissed off major players

[Are_grits_groceries]

66. Here is what Elie Wiesel proposed for Madoff:

Asked what punishment he would like to see for Mr. Madoff, Mr. Wiesel said: “I would like him to be in a solitary cell with only a screen, and on that screen for at least five years of his life, every day and every night, there should be pictures of his victims, one after the other after the other, all the time a voice saying, ‘Look what you have done to this old lady, look what you have done to that child, look what you have done,’ nothing else.”
http://www.iht.com/articles/2009/02/27/business/27madoff.php

This was the statement that made my blood run cold. It was aimed at one of Madoff's lawyers:
“As one Jew to another, I deeply regret that the Sorkin family did not perish in the Nazi death camps.”

http://blogs.wsj.com/law/2009/03/11/shining-the-light-on-ike-sorkin-madoffs-lawyer/

I don't feel sorry for him. If he is a psychopath as has been suggested, he doesn't really care about what he did. This kind of discomfort may be the only thing that even begins to punish him.

As you can see, a couple of his victims are not very forgiving. I wonder what the majority of them think.

[mitchum]

84. Weisel's proposal would not be an effective punishment for Madoff...

he has already demonstrated that he has no conscience

[Raine]

72. Hopefully this will make other scammers

think about the consequences of ripping people off, probably not (cause no one thinks they'll get caught) but maybe.

[varkam]

75. This is bullshit.

Not that I'm a fan of Madoff's but why in the hell is he being maxed? I personally think that he should be imprisoned for the rest of his life, but it's not as though he's a violent criminal - his was a financial crime (granted, a financial crime of epic proportions) - but he didn't personally kill anyone.

I'm guessing his treatment is meant to sate the bloodlust of the masses. If that's the case, I want no fucking part of it.

[EFerrari]

77. It is bullshit. I wonder if Amnesty or ACLU will say anything. n/t

[mitchum]

85. I would assume that they have far more pressing matters to attend to

[EFerrari]

92. People assume a lot of things. The treatment of prisoners

by the US government is a scandal around the world.

[mitchum]

96. I agree with you; I just assume that they have far more pressing matters...

than this particular...individual.
And really...who can blame them?

[EFerrari]

101. Sorry, mitchum. I see what you mean. Yeah, the guy isn't the issue for me.

I'm sure there are plenty of other abuses on that particular plate. :(

[mitchum]

88. Sate the bloodlust of the masses? And just where is the "blood"?

Please don't play so fast and loose with the language; he did not receive the death penalty.

[varkam]

102. Lame.

Please try again.

And bloodlust? Have a gander through this very thread.

[mitchum]

104. Yes, your hysterical accusation was indeed lame

However, the use of "lame" is not really disability sensitive language.
You might want to file that nugget away in order to enhance your compassionate identity.

[varkam]

106. My hysterical accusation? Pray tell, whom was I accusing of what?

Accusing the masses of having bloodlust?

And is it or is it not irony when you use the same word you chastise others as using? Oh, wait a minute, that's not irony! That's hypocrisy.

[mitchum]

108. That's not hypocrisy; that's instruction

And remember,I'm not the one posturing as an Armchair Gandhi.
See the difference?

[varkam]

110. Yes - you're just a bastion of sensitivity, aren't you?

:rofl:

I would much prefer to be an Armchair Gandhi as opposed to an Armchair de Sade. The world rejoices that you lack the courage of your convictions.

[mitchum]

111. Well, MY convictions would take a lot more effort than yours, wouldn't they?

Meaner than you
Wittier than you

[varkam]

112. Lol! "Me torturing people would be a lot harder than you helping them!"

Keep digging, bucko.

eta: Besides that, I would think working for reform in the justice system would actually be a lot more difficult than torturing people. I can only speak from experience on one end of that, though. Maybe you can speak from the other end? I mean, I would think that torturing people would be fairly easy (well, so long as you don't care about them). Break some bones here. Make some cuts there. Doesn't seem like it would be that tough to me...but then again I probably don't think about it as much as you do - so perhaps you could enlighten me (as you seem so very eager to do).

[mitchum]

115. Talk is cheap, Skippy...

and so far all you have done is mewl sweet sounding platitudes
Shouldn't you be comforting the sick and rescuing kittens rather than dicking around on a message board?

[varkam]

117. I'm gonna go ahead and guess that I have put a lot more work into my goals than you have yours.

Of course, I could be wrong - in which case shouldn't you be in a maximum security prison somewhere rather than dicking around on a message board? Don't worry, I'd still lobby for your ethical treatment even though you'd probably torture me the first chance you got.

Oh - and today's my day off. I go back to comforting the sick and rescuing kittens tomorrow. :rofl:

[dkf]

86. I don't know...this seems extreme.

Is it really necessary?

[merh]

87. I understand the need to segregate him from others, for his own

safety, but this is inhuman and no one should be subjected to this type of behavior. This is cruel and unusual - he is human and we are supposed to be civilized.

[pmorlan1]

89. Unacceptable

I'm no fan of Madoff but if this is true it's totally unacceptable. It's like the state has decided to add another level of punishment on top of what the Court ordered. This is not right for ANY inmate.

[pmorlan1]

91. WTF?

I'm really disturbed reading some of the comments to this piece. A lot of the people posting here sound just like the Bush supporters who yell for the blood of the detainees we have in Guantanamo and other places. What's wrong with you people? No one deserves this kind of treatment.

[Deja Q]

100. Except, unlike the SUSPECT terrorists, Madoff was clearly found GUILTY.

There is NO comparison.

(apart from those terrorists that weren't suspects but actually were.)

[pmorlan1]

105. Disagree

Regardless of whether he is guilty or not everyone should be treated as human beings.

[Two Americas]

90. no one "deserves" that

I am opposed to the way he is being treated.

[Skittles]

122. he'd have more angst shopping at Target and flying coach

[Matariki]

124. I know he's a crook who ruined a lot of people's financial lives - but

I think our prison system is cruel and byzantine. We are supposed to be a civilized country. I don't care how bad someone is, the condition of US prisons amount to a type of torture. It's shameful.

Even if someone has to spend the rest of their lives locked up, they shouldn't be driven insane, raped or brutalized, or slowly poisoned with substandard food, lack of sunlight or exercise.

[NJCher]

132. A little info on this prison

I've followed the Madoff crime extensively and I loathe what this man did. But lights on 24-hours a day and the windows blacked out does sound inhumane to me. This prison is a horrible place. I can say that because I know about this prison (the Metropolitan Correctional Center).

I once had a friend who was incarcerated there. It was a political crime--a freedom of speech issue. My friend took the high road against the thugs in our government and he paid the price. But I digress. What he went through adjusting to that place shook me to the core.

What he talked most about was the noise. There was almost never a moment of silence. Not one thing could be kept private. My friend was a very sensitive person, an artist, and every moment of the place was a living hell.

I can't imagine living out the rest of my days like what Madoff is doing, even if I was 70. What would drive me crazy the most is no reading material. That alone would drive me start raving mad. Also the noise.

I don't feel sorry for Madoff but the place is horrible enough without the extra touches the prison system seems to have added.


Cher

[EFerrari]

142. Is that where the people rounded up after 9/11 were held?

The name rings a bell for some reason. It sounds horrendous. :(

[Naturyl]

134. Good. Hope he never gets out.

Let it be a lesson to all Americans - greed is liable to get you in trouble.

[4_TN_TITANS]

135. Surprised at the maximum security

but on second thought, I'm sure it's for his own safety. And it wouldn't surprise me if when this fades from memory he's placed in much better accomidations.

[ThomWV]

136. Sounds like every regional jail in this state

[Jim__]

139. That sucks!

And it's not that I have any sympathy for Bernie Madoff. But if anyone has ever wondered why brutal murderers come out of our prison system; I hope you see the answer.