At Camp Fed, Rowland has some choices

A continental breakfast is offered daily. Monday's lunch featured beef tacos -- with a vegetarian, soy-based ''heart-healthy" alternative -- along with seasoned pinto beans and a choice of steamed or Spanish rice. Family visits at the minimum-security prison can last for hours.

More summer camp than hard-core penitentiary, the federal camp at the former Fort Devens in Ayer where former Connecticut governor John G. Rowland is expected to begin a yearlong sentence next week is about as cushy as the big house gets.

On grounds that have housed John ''Jackie" Bulger and several figures from the Operation Plunder Dome corruption probe in Providence, inmates can lounge in front of the television until 2 a.m. on weekends and holidays. No one is expected to wear traffic-cone-orange jumpsuits or even the drab khaki they wear in the neighboring higher-security facility.

Devens campers wear dark-green sets of two-pocket shirts and pants that look ''kind of like Dockers, but don't have the pleats," said prison public information officer John Colautti.

Think of it as a free-range prison. Between work duties and meals, inmates can move around as they please. The facility doesn't even have fences around it. Camp prisoners can use their downtime to loiter in the sun.

''They just have an area on the grounds they have to stay within, which is posted," Colautti said.

Unlike the neighboring Federal Medical Center Devens -- home to 1,155 inmates, many of whom need medical treatment or long-term mental health services -- the camp houses no violent criminals. Most of Rowland's new camp-mates will be white-collar offenders, like him.

A number of notorious New Englanders have spent time there. Morris M. Goldings, a once-prominent Boston lawyer convicted of stealing $17 million from clients, served part of his sentence at Devens before being transferred to a federal prison in Miami.

Two men convicted in the corruption scandal that brought down former Providence mayor Vincent A. ''Buddy" Cianci Jr. -- former mayoral aide Frank Corrente and Cianci fund-raiser Richard Autiello -- are serving terms in Devens. Former Providence tax board chairman Joseph A. Pannone served time there, too.

Bulger served six months at Fort Devens for perjury and obstruction of justice for protecting his fugitive brother, James ''Whitey" Bulger. The 66-year-old retired clerk magistrate was released last spring.

Rowland pleaded guilty to corruption charges for abusing the power of his office to secure perks such as vacations and renovations to his lakeside cottage. A judge sentenced him to a year plus a day in prison and recommended sending him to Devens; the Bureau of Prisons typically adopts such recommendations.

Traci Billingsley, a Bureau of Prisons spokeswoman, said no designation has yet been made for the former governor. Designations are based on the type of offense, length of sentence, history of escapes or violence, specialized medical needs, and distance from the prisoner's home, she said.

The bureau tries to place prisoners within 500 miles of their homes and to consider recommendations made by the courts.

The Bureau of Prisons didn't follow the judge's recommendation in the case of Charles ''Chuck" McGee, a former New Hampshire Republican Party director convicted of jamming phone lines to thwart Democratic get-out-the-vote efforts on Election Day in 2002. A judge recommended a seven-month sentence in Fort Devens, but the Bureau of Prisons ordered McGee to report to a Brooklyn prison next month.

''What we're trying to do is figure out why they didn't follow the court's recommendation in this case," said Patrick Donovan, McGee's lawyer, pointing out that he cannot travel to New York regularly to meet with his client.

Assuming that Rowland does land at Devens, he will be able to choose from an array of recreational opportunities and enjoy long visits with loved ones.

During their unscheduled time, inmates can walk on a track or play softball or half-court basketball. There are books and newspapers to read, board games to play, crafts such as painting and drawing to work on.

Conjugal visits aren't allowed, but loved ones can trade hugs and kisses when they arrive. Visitors can show up Friday nights or linger for up to six hours on weekend days. If visitors bring cash, prisoners can buy a Walkman at the commissary.

But there are still inconveniences. Five times a day, prisoners must report to their living areas for head counts. After visits with their families, they have to open their mouths or strip to prove that they're not hiding contraband. Their quarters couldn't even politely be described as cozy. They share Spartan metal bunk beds separated by three-quarter-wall cubicles that offer little privacy.

And they work about seven hours each day, maintaining the grounds and cooking the food.

''The old depictions of the `Club Fed' and the manicured grounds and the pictures you may see in ''Goodfellas" are not accurate at all," Colautti said. ''A lot of the things that we do now are geared toward very cost-effective measures."

After all, Bulger's lawyer, George Gormley, said, ''Prison is prison."