Ryan will be federal prisoner 16627-424

The federal pen in frigid Duluth, Minn., isn't necessarily one of those "Club Feds." But it's no Cook County jail either.

Former Illinois Gov. Dan Walker spent 18 months up there back in the late 1980s for bank fraud. It drove the man close to suicide and stripped him of his dignity and illusions of grandeur, along with his clothes.

But an editorial in Duluth's local paper recently put it: "be reminded that if you can't do the time, then don't do the crime, or don't serve as governor of Illinois."

Walker, too, had some words of warning for former Illinois Gov. George Ryan on Thursday after the 73-year-old found out his appeals of last year's conviction seem to have run out.

"That is a hell hole up there in Duluth," Walker told ABC7 Chicago Thursday. "I went through repeated strip searches. I hope they don't do that to him."

Ryan is slated to spend 6½ years in that hole, though he is trying to switch to a prison closer to family in Oxford, Wis. Ryan has a court hearing today and he will be taken to prison Nov. 7.

On that day, Ryan can only walk into the prison with his identification, legal papers and wedding band. He'll be known as federal prisoner 16627-424.

Ryan will be dressed in tan coveralls with a button-down collar, said Mike Truman, a spokesman for the Federal Bureau of Prisons.

He could find himself sharing a toilet and sleeping quarters with up to four fellow prisoners.

On the other hand, Ryan will have access to a gym and probably have a job, Truman said.

The pharmacist, former one-term governor, two-term secretary of state and two-term lieutenant governor can get work at the cafeteria or as an orderly, plumber, painter, warehouse worker and groundskeeper. He'll get paid between 12 cents and $1 an hour, Truman said.

Yet, some minimum security inmates can even work off grounds for groups like the National Park Service, U.S. Forest Service and the armed services. Some are asked to speak at schools. Those inmates are supposed to return to prison every night after work.

Despite the notable number of politicians heading to jail these days, Ryan may have trouble making friends.

Of the 189,000 federal prisoners, more than half of them are drug offenders. Less than 5 percent are there for extortion or fraud crimes.