Maryland Business

By: Ed Waldman

When Bernie Madoff arrives in prison, he likely won’t be the most popular inmate.

According to some experts Bloomberg interviewed — including a former inmate who advises convicts on surviving time behind bars — the other prisoners are bound to blame Bernie, the mastermind behind the largest Ponzi scheme in history, for the Wall Street crash.

“All the guys there will have wives or parents who are losing their homes or their jobs or who can’t send money to them anymore. Everybody’s going to be blaming Bernie,” said Larry Levine, owner of the Los Angeles firm Wall Street Prison Consultants.

One forensic psychiatrist told Bloomberg that Madoff should expect to receive tons of threatening mail. His digs won’t be as plush as his Manhattan penthouse, but he may get the benefit of being in a prison system that is less violent because murders and rapes are generally prosecuted at the state level not the federal level.

One way he can make friends in the big house is if he offers his expertise to the other inmates.

“Offering inmates help with legal or financial needs might give Madoff a certain ‘diplomatic immunity,’ said Levine, who said he acted as a jailhouse lawyer for other convicts while behind bars.”

Madoff will still have access to life outside of prison through access to cable television and possibly e-mail, and he’ll likely have to hold a job, which would pay between 12 cents and 40 cents an hour. In that case, it looks like he’ll be paying his victims back a few pennies at a time.

DANIELLE ULMAN, Business Writer