CLEVELAND -- By the end of the week, former Cuyahoga County Auditor Frank Russo will be serving time.
After cooperating with federal prosecutors in the ongoing county corruption investigation, it's his turn to face his sentence for his role in the crimes.
Each day behind bars, lights will come on at 5:30 a.m. at the Federal Correctional Institution in Loretto, Pennsylvania. It's where Frank Russo could wake up for the next 22 years of his life.
It costs taxpayers about $73a day to keep him there.
Along with 1,300 other prisoners, he will report to breakfast at 6 a.m. and make his bed by 7:30. Then it's time for work.
Russo, working with his friend and sidekick ex-Cuyahoga County Commissioner Jimmy Dimora, took bribes and cheated onhis taxes,pleading guilty to 21 corruption crimes.
In the nearly two years since his sentencing, Russo's been volunteering at a local soup kitchen. His new menu might be familiar.
The Federal Bureau of Prisons Certified Menu shows that for lunch Saturday, Russo could enjoy a package of sardines, chips, vegetable juice, bread and an apple.
Dinner? PB and J.
Any extras will have to come from the commissary, but he's likely to get a turkey dinner next week. The bureau of prisons does offer holiday meals.
Other creature comforts are limited.
Russo can get up to four visits a month, immediate family only.
He'll be able to make monitored phone calls and watch TV during waking hours. There's absolutely no smoking in prison, something Russo's been known to do on his nights on the town.
Now he'll face lights out by ten until midnight.
While prosecutors will cut him slack for cooperation, there's no word on when he'll be outside again.
Loretto has housed other infamous company, including former Connecticut Gov. John G. Rowland and actress Anne Hathway's ex- Raffaello Follieri.
Russo apologized for his actions following a hearing last month, saying he'd like to take a positive step forward in the future.
Russo still has to testify in the scheduled February trial of attorney Anthony Calabrese III.
