http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2006/01/26/perspective/17_14_431_21_06.txtEx-con: Cunningham faces rough road in prison
By: WILLIAM FINN BENNETT - Staff Writer
They are jokingly referred to by names like "Camp Cupcake," "Club Fed"
and "Camp Cream Puff." But according to white-collar felon and
ex-convict Mark Morze ---- who served 3 1/2 years in a federal
minimum-security prison at Lompoc ---- these institutions are anything
but a day at the beach.
As Randy "Duke" Cunningham puts his affairs in order for his scheduled
Feb. 27 sentencing hearing and what could be a 10-year prison stint
---- possibly at the same Central California minimum security camp
where Morze served his time ---- the disgraced former congressman had
best get ready for the rocky road that lies ahead, Morze said on a
recent afternoon.
Before his fall from grace, Cunningham lived a life of luxury in an
8,000-square-foot Rancho Santa Fe mansion and enjoyed private jet
travel, the finest restaurants and five-star hotels, while earning a
$162,100 a year salary ---- plus perks. He was recently convicted of
bribery charges for taking additional money, a Rolls-Royce, antiques
and other illicit gifts from contractors who wanted congressional
favors.
Now, he faces the distinct possibility of a very different lifestyle:
sleeping in a barracks with other inmates, tasting prison food and
earning pennies an hour for what could well be a job painting walls,
mopping floors or cleaning bathrooms.
Myth versus reality
The public information officer for Lompoc's minimum-security camp ----
which lies between Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo and houses mostly
drug offenders and white-collar criminals ---- agreed with Morze that
the "Club Fed" image is a myth. True, the minimum security camps may
have no fences or armed guard towers, and inmates may have access to
libraries, newspapers and magazines, organized sports and television.
But offenders are still incarcerated, the official said, and every
phase of each inmate's life is controlled.
"They are told where to be 24 hours a day, they have to work and live
in a barracks-style (building) with little privacy," prison spokesman
Erwin Meinberg said in a Wednesday phone interview. "It's still a
prison, not a free ride, not a vacation."
Inmates work at a variety of jobs, many involving manual labor, 7 1/2
hours a day, five days a week, Meinberg said. For their toil, prisoners
are paid 12 cents to 45 cents an hour, he added.
One of the federal prosecutors in the Cunningham case said last week
that it is not yet known how much time Cunningham will receive nor what
type of prison may be his destination.
However, corrections expert Alvin W. Cohn said he believes Cunningham
would likely serve any prison time at a minimum security facility.
"In all probability, the federal prison system would classify him for
minimum security, since he is not violent," said Cohn, a Maryland-based
consultant on corrections issues and a retired professor of criminal
justice.
A spokesman for the federal Bureau of Prisons said last week that
prison officials try to place convicts in a facility within 500 miles
of where their families live. The closest minimum-security camp to San
Diego is the one at Lompoc.
Snitch factor
Regardless of where Cunningham serves his time, the biggest problem he
could face may come from his plea agreement to fully cooperate with
federal prosecutors ---- an agreement that could mean he'll be
perceived as a snitch, said former inmate Morze.
On Nov. 28, 2005, Cunningham pleaded guilty to tax evasion and having
received more than $2.4 million in bribes from co-conspirators in
exchange for steering tens of millions in government contracts to two
defense contractors. As part of the terms of his plea agreement, the
decorated Vietnam war ace agreed to fully cooperate with prosecutors.
"Defendant has expressed a desire to provide substantial assistance to
the Government in the investigation and prosecution of others;
Defendant agrees ... to tell everything the defendant knows about every
person involved," court documents read.
Earlier this month, Time magazine's online edition reported that
Cunningham began cooperating with prosecutors before his guilty pleas.
The story said that Cunningham wore a wire in a conversation with at
least one defense contractor.
Cunningham's Washington attorney K. Lee Blalack later issued a written
statement saying that Cunningham had not worn a wire while meeting with
any government officials. But he declined to comment on the record
whether Cunningham had worn a wire during meetings with people outside
of government, such as the four unnamed co-conspirators identified in
his plea agreement. Federal officials refused to comment on the
article, which was later picked up by several other publications.
Morze said those reports and the court records showing that Cunningham
agreed to help the government build a case against others means that he
will be tagged as a snitch when he enters the federal penal system. And
that stands to make his prison life less pleasant, Morze added.
"I feel badly for Cunningham because he is in for a real rough time
with fellow inmates," Morze said. "I don't mean physically harmed, but
he will be shunned. You eat alone, play alone, do everything alone,
because everybody hates you."
Morze was convicted in the late 1980s as one of the principal cohorts
of Barry Minkow, the owner of Z-Best Carpets. In one of the biggest
white-collar cases of that decade, the company vastly inflated its
earnings to attract investors and then proceeded to bilk them out of
hundreds of millions of dollars.
True story may be irrelevant
Morze added that for the typical inmate, it will make little difference
that Cunningham's attorney denied the 64-year-old man had worn a wire.
"You can't put the toothpaste back in the tube; maybe the story is
wrong, but it doesn't matter," Morze said. "The average inmate just
knows that you are a rat and that is all there is to it."
Corrections consultant Cohn agreed with Morze that those who are
perceived as so-called stool pigeons can have a tough time in prison.
"Nobody likes a snitch," Cohn said.
To a large extent, however, Cunningham's experience in the penal system
will depend on his attitude, Cohn noted.
"Somebody who is abrasive or arrogant is likely to get some form of
come-uppance," Cohn said.
Judging by some of Cunningham's actions over the 15 years he spent in
Congress ----- making a crude comment about an openly gay congressman,
challenging another member to a fist fight, saying that Democratic
congressional leaders should be "lined up and shot" ----- showing his
kinder, gentler side may prove a challenge.
Prison life can be especially traumatic for white-collar criminals,
even in minimum security environments, Cohn said.
"They have to come to grips with the fact that they are no longer in
power, that someone else is in charge," he said. "Some people have an
exceedingly difficult time adjusting." But, he said, "It depends on the
personality of the person."
Ex-con's advice to Cunningham
Morze suggested that if Cunningham wants to avoid doing hard time, the
first thing he should do is accept his fate, fully admit to himself his
guilt and start making the best of prison life.
He said that for most white-collar inmates, the days are like weeks, as
they refuse to accept their destiny and fool themselves into thinking
they will win an appeal or be able to control events outside of prison.
"There are two kinds of time: easy time and hard time," Morze said.
"Eventually you have to realize that while you are in here, you are
dead, and that is so hard for men who have had power."
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