WASHINGTON – It isn’t exactly Park Avenue, but Michael Cohen likely couldn’t have found a more comfortable place in the federal prison system than the camp at Otisville, N.Y.
Cohen, who once reveled in being the high-flying personal attorney and fixer to President Donald Trump, is expected to spend the next three years in dormitory-style quarters with better-than-average food.
It is a place, said federal prison consultant Larry Levine, that has long catered to Jewish offenders, offering a kosher kitchen and the services of a rabbi.
“Every Jew in the system wants to be there,” said Levine, who prepares white-collar inmates to serve their time as founder of Wall Street Prison Consultants. Levine said Monday that he has two clients at Otisville who have “raved” about the conditions there.
“If you have to be inside, this is probably the place to be,” Levine said.
Cohen arrived just before noon at the complex, where he will be assigned to the 113-inmate satellite camp, apart from medium-security prison that houses another 745 offenders behind tall fences and coils of razor wire.
At the camp, Levine said the atmosphere is decidedly relaxed as inmates can visit the gym or pass the time playing bocce ball, horseshoes, handball or tennis.
And Cohen won’t be the only celebrity inmate at the upstate New York federal lockup.
Michael Sorrentino, better known as “The Situation” to fans of the reality TV show “Jersey Shore,” is currently serving an eight-month sentence for tax fraud at the facility. The prison is also home to Billy McFarland, the co-founder of the infamous Fyre Festival who is serving a six-year sentence for defrauding investors of $26 million.
Former NFL player Darren Sharper is at Otisville serving a 20-year sentence for raping and drugging women. And former New York Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos is there serving a four-year sentence for corruption.
“When he arrives, everyone is probably gonna want to get some time with him because of who he is,” Levine said. “There will be people who don’t like him because he turned on Trump. And there will be those who will seek him because he did (turn on the president). But this is not the kind of place where you live in fear of your life.”
Most inmates at the camp, Levine said, are counting the days until their release and are not looking to extend their stays by engaging in violence.
“The chances of him getting assaulted at Otisville are about as likely as me being next royal baby,” Levine said.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/onpolitics/2019/05/06/michael-cohen-begin-3-year-sentence-federal-prison/1117314001/