Tom Petters shipped to Leavenworth: 50 years

Leavenworth has housed some of the country's most-publicized criminals -- Frank (The Enforcer) Nitti, one of Al Capone's deputies; Robert Stroud, better known as the Birdman of Alcatraz, and even quarterback Michael Vick. Now the federal prison will have a new inmate: Tom Petters.

It's not clear exactly when Petters will arrive at the Big House or the Hot House as the prison in Leavenworth, Kan., has been called, but that's where he's headed. The Federal Bureau of Prisons already lists him as an inmate there. Release date: 04-25-2052.

Jon Hopeman, Petters' lawyer, said he spoke with Petters two days ago and, at the time, Petters was at the Oklahoma City Transfer Center waiting to be shipped to Leavenworth. Hopeman said Petters was optimistic.

"He was feeling positive, and whatever came his way he was going to be able to deal with it," Hopeman said.

Leavenworth is not exactly the feared institution it once was. Built at the turn of the century, at least in part by prisoners themselves, it was the country's largest maximum-security prison until 2005 when it became a medium-security facility, with an attached minimum-security prison camp. The country's worst criminals are now shipped elsewhere, such as the ADX supermax prison in Florence, Colo.

Still, the all-male facility is formidable, with thick walls at least 30 feet high. The prison houses 1,692 inmates, according to the Bureau of Prison's latest population report, with the camp holding 432.

Minneapolis developer Basim Sabri, who spent time in Leavenworth in 2005 after being convicted of bribery, said he was at the minimum-security camp. The camp, he said, was a "five-star hotel."

"It's very eerie," he said.

Hopeman said Petters will have a job and that he has expressed some interest in tapping the residential drug abuse program. Hopeman said the program is offered at the minimum-security camp, but he isn't sure it's offered at the medium-security facility. Hopeman described the program as a separate bunkhouse within the institution where inmates do 40 hours a week of "heavy, Hazelden-like treatment."

Hopeman said he's still working on Petters' appeal, which is due July 30.

"The muse has struck," Hopeman said. "We're following the direction of our muse."

Officials at Leavenworth did not return calls Thursday.

Petters' crimes were largely upstaged by Bernie Madoff, who was convicted of running a much larger Ponzi scheme. That disgraced financier is living out his 150-year sentence at the Butner Federal Correctional Complex in North Carolina, where he has reportedly gained a following among the inmates.

Jennifer Bjorhus • 612-673-4683