Disgraced Staten Island politician Michael Grimm will be spending his first of many nights in the federal penitentiary Tuesday. The former GOP congressman, who threatened to toss a reporter off a balcony, voluntarily surrendered to authorities at noon to kick off his eight-month prison term. Grimm was sentenced in July after pleading guilty to federal tax-fraud charges. He won reelection in 2014, despite facing a 20-count indictment, but stepped down just days after taking his seat in the current Congress.
Grimm will serve his stint in McKean Federal Correctional Institution, located in Lewis Run, Pennsylvania. As a white-collar criminal, he will be housed in the campus’s minimum-security satellite. There he will enjoy the perks of “Club Fed,” a sort of lockdown-lite that includes dormitory-style housing, rec areas, telephones, and even monitored email.
