Cohen at the prison on Monday. Former officials say the "rat" should watch over his back.

May 3, 2019, 16:16 UTC

By Associated press

"The Situation" and the fraudster of the Fyre Festival are already there. Michael Cohen, the former lawyer and advisor to President Donald Trump, is next.

This is not reality TV. It is a federal prison located 120 kilometers from New York City, where white-collar villains and D-lists can spend time playing petanque and playing rugelach.

Michael Cohen, 53, is due to report to Otisville, a federal penitentiary, on Monday for sentencing the applicant to a three-year jail term for tax evasion, lying in front of Congress and crimes against funding for election campaigns.

Nestled in the lush countryside south of the Catskill Mountains, Otisville is actually two federal institutions with approximately 800 inmates: a medium security prison where former NFL star Darren Sharper is serving a 20-year rape sentence and a non-violent offenders like Cohen.

There, he will serve his three-year prison term with the "Jersey Shore" guy, the convicted tax evader, Michael "The Situation" at Billy McFarland, Sorrentino and Fyre Festival.

The US Prison Office, which manages the federal penitentiary system, has not talked much about Cohen's placement. The agency rejected a journalist's request to visit Otisville facilities and declined to comment on this article.

The camp has its pace. Approximately 115 inmates sleep in aligned bunk beds in barracks-style rooms, instead of single cells or two-person rooms as in higher security institutions. There are lockers for storing your personal belongings, clothes washers and dryers, microwaves for warming food and ice machines for cooling.

Former students include accountant Kenneth Starr, who has been accused of beating celebrities like Uma Thurman with bad investments, and former Cendant president, Walter Forbes, and the former governor of the Connecticut, John Rowland. The New York scout Ponzi Bernie Madoff wanted to go to Otisville, but the Bureau of Prisons sent him to North Carolina.

Otisville is also known as a favorite haunt for Jews imprisoned for kosher meals and Shabbat services.

Add to that recreational facilities such as tennis courts, horseshoes and cardio equipment, and the federal penitentiary system looks like the closest to things.

Forbes has one day ranked Otisville among the "10 Mildest US Prisons", but former employees and inmates argue that this is not really a "Fed Club". Prisoners still have time to spare and are still separated from their families and friends, with the exception of casual visits.

"The prison is disrespectful, it's impersonal," said Jack Donson, former case manager at Otisville.

"He will never sleep because there are always lights on, prisoners are still snoring, there are policemen ringing around the keys, you are showering in the open air." very humiliating. "

Cohen could also be the victim of intimidation, harassment or even worse for his cooperation with the investigation of special advocate Robert Mueller and other investigations, which could make him a candidate for the prison protection unit, said Donson. Trump himself called Cohen "rat".

According to the camp's project – on an isolated two-lane road, without much security or security – Cohen could easily be harassed by paparazzi or ambushed by someone who was trying to make evil, said Donson.

"It's not appropriate," said Donson. "No matter who in the audience could go to Otisville camp, go straight into the visiting room, up to where Michael Cohen is sitting – literally a few feet away." – and take her out. "

Cameron Lindsay, a retired caretaker who oversaw Otisville as deputy regional director of the US Bureau of Prisons, said he would "think long and hard about placing Cohen in a general population, at least at the beginning ", given the" intense media coverage and extreme type of support that the President receives from some of his supporters ".

A prison manual advises prisoners to behave in a "confident at all times" manner, to trust their instincts and to "wisely choose their collaborators".

The first step of Cohen in Otisville will be admission and orientation.

He will undergo medical and mental health screenings and will be assigned a job. He will also buy clothes, swap his sports coats and zippers for khaki shirts and pants, and a set of bedding and towels.

In a month, it will be classified and formulated recommendations for prison programs. Some prisoners take drug education courses or take courses to obtain a degree equivalent to the bachelor's degree.

As for a typical day: on weekdays, it comes on at 6 am, followed by breakfast. Tasks, such as mowing the floor or cleaning the prison, are performed from 7:30 to 15:00, with a lunch break at 11:00. Dinner is served from 16:15. It is daytime at 23:30

On weekends, the prisoners sleep. The lights are on before 7 pm

Otisville, located less than 35 km from the Orthodox Jewish communities of Kiryas Joel and Monsey, is "definitely sought after by Jewish offenders," said Matthew Perry, executive director of Jewish Prisoner Services International.

The police station sells more than 100 kosher items, more than most federal prisons. (The matzoh costs $ 3.15 and the gefilte fish costs $ 5.15.) Need a yarmulke (it's $ 6). A full-time rabbi heads the chaplaincy. At Passover, the prison puts on an elaborate Seder.

"It really makes a difference if you're Jewish because a lot of people want to say some prayers that you can only say with 10 Jewish men," said Lawrence Dressler, a former Otisville prisoner who served 18 month for mortgage fraud, referring to the Jewish College known as minyan. "You have Sabbath services on Friday night and the prison even allows inmates to bring food from outside."

All Jewish holidays are observed, Dressler said, including Hanukkah, when men gather in the chapel to sing. "Everyone had their own menorah," he said.

Dressler, who like Cohen was a lawyer before his conviction, predicted that Cohen would remain largely alone in Otisville – unless he was considered a rat.

"He's going to make some friends," Dressler said. "Everyone ends up having a couple of good friends."