America's 10 Cushiest Prisons

July 18, 2009— -- It's looking like a lifetime sentence at one of the nation's cushiest prisons for world-class fraudster Bernard Madoff. The record-setting scammer is now at the Federal Correctional Complex at Butner, N.C. It's no Club Fed--the U.S. Bureau of Prisons' minimum-security camps, which are the easiest places to do federal time, are only for offenders with 10 years or less on their sentences. Bernie's is for 150.

But Madoff shouldn't be too despondent. Neither should Marc Dreier, the swindling super lawyer who was handed a 20-year fraud sentence on July 13. Prison camps have always been white-collar convicts' destination of choice, but even fraudsters with long sentences can find ways to make doing time easier--and to avoid sharing a cell with an ax murderer.

We asked Allan Ellis, a Philadelphia defense attorney who penned the Federal Prison Guidebook, for a shortlist of the prisons considered most desirable by federal inmates. Then we took into account features like availability of e-mail, distance to the nearest major airport and presence of on-site substance abuse treatment, a sentence-reducing initiative that has seen a wave of apparently sober white-collar cons claiming serious addictions.

Click here to learn more about America's 10 cushiest prisons at our partner site, Forbes.com.

Of the 115 prisons in the federal system, which one did Bernie want to spend the rest of his life in? That distinction goes to the Federal Correctional Institution at Otisville, N.Y. Though not a camp, FCI Otisville is only for male inmates with a medium- or low-security designation, so he would have avoided mingling with the worst of the worst.

Otisville ranks at the bottom of our list, but it's still got its upsides, especially for observant Jewish inmates; the prison boasts kosher food and regular access to a rabbi. But Madoff, whose fraudulent investment scheme left numerous Jewish philanthropies on the brink of collapse and bankrupted hundreds of individuals, has a personal, rather than a religious, reason for wanting to end up in Otisville.