I don’t know about you, but I always over-pack. What’s the point in taking a suitcase if it’s not full to the brim?
So I’m starting to wonder how Gordon Nuttall managed it.
The disgraced, former Queensland health and industrial relations minister had to pack for the next seven years that he’ll spend in prison after being found guilty of corruption. Now that requires some serious planning.
I’d probably start with the obvious things; a few cartons of cigarettes – prison currency - pairs of stripped pyjamas, a toothbrush, maybe a flash light and definitely an engrossing book or ten.
After spending five months in prison for conspiracy, Martha Stewart recommended inmates arm themselves with raincoats, soap, a mop and their own Scrabble set. Raincoats struck me as a curious inclusion but who am I to question the Queen of home comforts even when that home is a prison cell.
Bernie Maddoff, on the other hand has left nothing to chance. He hired prison coach Herbert Hoelter four days prior to his sentencing for advice on how to survive prison life.
For around $US200 per hour, Hoelter is reported to have told Maddoff to expect meals and showers inside his cell and warned him to “keep his space” and “have respect for other people”.
“He was in a cell for 23 hours a day with four other guys in his row. He’ll have recreation, the light of day, regular phone calls and showers and visitors,” Hoelter told Fox News.
It’s simple advice for a man who faces the rest of his life inside Butner prison, the first ‘environmentally sustainable’ jail in the United States.
Steve Oberfest, another prison coach, says Hoelter’s advice doesn’t cut it. He says Madoff is going into prison with a distinct “disadvantage” – notoriety.
“It’s a general, nasty, medium-security-type prison. I couldn’t see him functioning as well there,” Oberfest told the Wall Street Journal.
“All eyes are going to be on him,” he said. “If you screw someone over for $100 million, they will find someone on the inside and get even with you. There are always going to be favors. That’s just the way it is,” he said.
Back in Australia, Gordon Nuttall is currently being held in a single cell at Wolston Correctional Centre among 500 other inmates.
Chris Cunneen, NewSouth Global Chair of Criminology at University of New South Wales says Nuttall’s white collar status will ensure he is kept away from the rough and tumble of mainstream prisons.
“This can be both a benefit and a disadvantage. Nuttall can expect to be relatively comfortable and have more autonomy than in mainstream prisons. The downside is that the segregation means greater isolation,” Cunneen said.
As for the likelihood of Nuttall seeing out the end of his seven year sentence, Cunneen says he has a better chance than most of getting out early.
“There is a high proportion of illiteracy and mental illness in mainstream prisons. The fact that someone like Nuttall can read and write means he has a much better chance of being able to work the system to his advantage,” he said.
“He’s also unlikely to be busted out of jail by a gang, so this will also give him a security classification at the lower end,” he said.
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