Ray Nagin, the ex-New Orleans mayor who used taxpayers’ dollars for his own lavish living, will surrender to the Federal Bureau of Prison on September 8, 2014, for service of a ten-year term of imprisonment.
Once, Nagin had earned $400,000 a year as a member of Cox Communications. His new budget will consist of 12 to 40 cents an hour for a prison job. If he gets into the Federal Prison Industries (which is commonly referred to as UNICOR), he could earn up to $1.15 an hour, though there is a lengthy waiting list for such positions.
While in prison, he will be subjected to strip searches, have very little personal property, be assigned sleeping and living quarters, and seek approval for social visits and telephone lists. He can look for work in food service, landscaping, maintenance, HVAC, janitorial or clerical jobs, though much of Nagin’s earnings will be used to pay hefty restitution — upwards of $84,000.
The BOP attempts to place inmates within a 500-mile radius of their residence. While Judge Berrigan recommended that Nagin be assigned to FCI Oakdale to be close to family, it will be up to the Bureau of Prison’s Designation Sentence Computation Center (DSCC) to take factors into account when designating the former mayor. Because Nagin will serve less than 10 years of actual imprisonment, he may be eligible for “camp” status (the lowest security level in the BOP), where there are no fences, though others convicted of political corruption tend to be placed in medium- or low-security facilities.
To learn more about this story, read The Advocate’s article “What will life be like for Nagin behind bars.”
Published Jul 30, 2014 by Christopher Zoukis, JD, MBA | Last Updated by Christopher Zoukis, JD, MBA on Jul 23, 2023 at 7:14 pm
