The best places in the US...

[Chiwas]

....to be jailed.

Best places to go to prison
Where would Martha Stewart go?
By Penelope Patsuris

FORBES

Updated: 9:15 p.m. ET March 09, 2004

NEW YORK - Martha Stewart was convicted on Friday of all four charges against her, including perjury and obstruction of justice. She could be sentenced to five years in prison on each count according to the law, but that's unlikely. Still, she may very well have to do time. Shares of her eponymous company Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia were halted briefly, then resumed trading.

If the appeals process fails to work in her favor, we suggest she take a page from her pal Samuel Waksal's playbook. After his conviction, the former ImClone Systems chief executive requested to serve his seven-year sentence at federal prison camp Eglin in Florida. That joint was considered so cushy that the term "Club Fed" was coined to describe it, and we recently ranked it as one of five best places to go to prison.

by the numbers Best Places To Go To Prison

Name Location Opened Capacity Pop.

Eglin Fort Walton Beach, Fla. 1962 800 792

Nellis North Las Vegas 1990 415 588

Morgantown Morgantown, W.Va. 1969 935 1,009

Otisville Otisville, N.Y. 1980 100 119

Allenwood Montgomery, Pa. 1993 567 584

Alas, Waksal was shipped off instead to the Schuylkill Federal Correctional Institute in Minersville, Pa., which did not make our list. Unlike the five free-standing federal prison camps on our list, facilities like Schuylkill are attached to menacing, medium-security facilities. As a result, inmates at the low-security camp are often required to work in the medium-security buildings, surrounded by guards, barbed wire and more serious offenders. Were she to end up in a similar place, the former Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia CEO could end up washing dishes and sweeping floors for pennies an hour.

Waksal may soon have some company. This week saw the start of the jury selection for Adelphia Communications founder John Rigas, while ex-Tyco executives L. Dennis Kozlowski and Mark Swartz continue to plead their case in court. Disgraced Enron chief Jeffrey Skilling is right behind them, having just been indicted on conspiracy, fraud, and insider trading.

Former HealthSouth executives including Richard Scrushy are still facing charges of inflating income, while the federal government has yet to even charge WorldCom ex-chief Bernard Ebbers with any wrongdoing. Meanwhile, Global Crossing's Gary Winnick has escaped criminal charges.

© 2004 Forbes.com