Pannone has had his own health problems. About a month after reporting to the minimum-security federal prison camp in Fort Dix, N.J., last fall, Pannone tripped and fell while going up some stairs to get his mail. On Oct. 26, he was transferred here, to a federal prison medical facility on an old Army base, for medical evaluation. In the meantime, he is in a higher security prison, ringed by fences topped by concertina wire, alongside hardened criminals, awaiting a transfer to a minimum-security camp. He described a Darwinian world where a convict beat up a guard and inmates fight over what television show to watch.
Guards periodically tap on the bars with a rubber mallet to check for tampering.
I belong in a camp for the crime I committed. I don't belong with drug dealers, murderers, rapists. His daughter, Deborah Pannone, said that he was supposed to be here only for a 30-day evaluation, and that it has now been 90 days. On Thursday, she said, her father had a physical and was judged to be in good health. Pannone's family has contacted the office of U.S. Sen. Jack Reed, who queried the Bureau of Prisons.