Former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen, sentenced to prison, asked for this lockup

Image: Michael Cohen walks to federal court with his children and wife in M
Michael Cohen walks to federal court with his children and wife in Manhattan on Dec. 12, 2018. Cohen was sentenced to three years in prison after pleading guilty to nine federal charges. Copyright Spencer Platt Getty Images
By David K. Li with NBC News U.S. News
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"It'll be boring," an expert on federal prisons said of the minimum-security camp at Otisville. "He'll lose his freedom, but he won't be in fear of his safety there."

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When Donald Trump's former lawyer, Michael Cohen, was sentenced Wednesday to three years behind bars, his lawyers requested a particular federal lockup.

The Otisville federal correctional institution, about 80 miles north of the Manhattan courthouse where Cohen was sentenced, has both a medium-security prison and minimum-security camp.

Cohen was ordered in the hearing to report to prison on March 6, 2019, and where he will go will ultimately be decided by the U.S. Bureau of Prisons.

If he is sent to Otisville, he would join about 840 other federal offenders now housed there.

One expert in federal sentencing told NBC News that he believes Cohen would likely land at the minimum-security camp if he is sent to Otisville.

"It's not the worst place in the world to end up," said Alan Ellis, a lawyer and author of "Federal Prison Guidebook." "It'll be boring. He'll lose his freedom, but he won't be in fear of his safety there."

Otisville is among the best dozen federal prisons for doing time in the U.S., Ellis said.

Others who have been sentenced to Otisville include former New York state Sen. Carl Kruger, who served part of his seven-year sentence for influence peddling.

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