Penelope
Diamond Member
- Jul 15, 2014
- 60,260
- 15,767
- 2,210
- “For a Jewish person, there is no place like Otisville,” said Earl Seth David, 54, a former inmate who attended kosher meals, religious classes and weekly Shabbat services in the prison shul, a shared space where the Torah scrolls are locked up every night.
“As a Jew, there’s no other prison you can get services like that.”
Otisville’s camp has long been the lockup of choice among Jewish white-collar offenders, including Sheldon Silver, the former speaker of the New York State Assembly who was convicted on federal corruption charges. Mr. Silver, who is free on bail pending an appeal, has requested to serve his seven-year sentence at the camp.
Otisville is also one of the closest federal lockups to New York City, making it attractive to non-Jewish convicts as well, including Dean Skelos, the former New York State Senate majority leader who reported to the camp this month to begin his four-year sentence on bribery and other charges. Mike “The Situation” Sorrentino, the reality star from “Jersey Shore,” recently arrived at the camp, to serve a sentence for tax evasion.
The camp — which sits near Otisville’s main prison, a much larger medium-security lockup — has a population of about 120 inmates, including drug dealers and other street-level criminals with good prison records.
But most inmates are Jewish — many of them orthodox and Hasidic — and many are doctors, lawyers, accountants and businessmen who committed fraud.
A few also have backgrounds as ordained rabbis and, once inside, some assume a spiritual leadership role. Inmates periodically hold an informal vote to elect a “gabbai” to run the shul, which is currently led by a Hasidic man from Williamsburg, Brooklyn, who is locked up for arson and corporate fraud.
Michael Cohen’s Prison of Choice: Well-Known to Jewish Offenders
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
I laughed when Kushner talk about his dad's prison time, white collar criminals have it so easy, his dad had it easy. When they are use to living the high life, its little different when in their prisons. I remember Martha Stewart in prison, she made a doc of it. She had a good ole time.
Guess who will be given clemency in Fed prisons, white collar criminals most likely.
“As a Jew, there’s no other prison you can get services like that.”
Otisville’s camp has long been the lockup of choice among Jewish white-collar offenders, including Sheldon Silver, the former speaker of the New York State Assembly who was convicted on federal corruption charges. Mr. Silver, who is free on bail pending an appeal, has requested to serve his seven-year sentence at the camp.
Otisville is also one of the closest federal lockups to New York City, making it attractive to non-Jewish convicts as well, including Dean Skelos, the former New York State Senate majority leader who reported to the camp this month to begin his four-year sentence on bribery and other charges. Mike “The Situation” Sorrentino, the reality star from “Jersey Shore,” recently arrived at the camp, to serve a sentence for tax evasion.
The camp — which sits near Otisville’s main prison, a much larger medium-security lockup — has a population of about 120 inmates, including drug dealers and other street-level criminals with good prison records.
But most inmates are Jewish — many of them orthodox and Hasidic — and many are doctors, lawyers, accountants and businessmen who committed fraud.
A few also have backgrounds as ordained rabbis and, once inside, some assume a spiritual leadership role. Inmates periodically hold an informal vote to elect a “gabbai” to run the shul, which is currently led by a Hasidic man from Williamsburg, Brooklyn, who is locked up for arson and corporate fraud.
Michael Cohen’s Prison of Choice: Well-Known to Jewish Offenders
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
I laughed when Kushner talk about his dad's prison time, white collar criminals have it so easy, his dad had it easy. When they are use to living the high life, its little different when in their prisons. I remember Martha Stewart in prison, she made a doc of it. She had a good ole time.
Guess who will be given clemency in Fed prisons, white collar criminals most likely.
