Former Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff, who served nearly four years in prison for fraud and tax evasion, has some advice for soon-to-be-inmate Rod Blagojevich: keep your sense of humor, keep busy, keep your head down, and don’t play to your celebrity.
One of the biggest pieces of advice to the former Illinois governor? “Keeping your sense of humor – you don’t want to become depressed and morose," he said on CNN's Starting Point. "It’s a horrific experience.”
Abramoff also said that Blagojevich shouldn't “play to all the celebrity, play to all the hoopla,” but needs to instead “keep his head down.”
Blagojevich is scheduled to arrive at a Colorado federal prison on Thursday to begin serving a 14-year sentence following his conviction in connection with his attempt to sell or trade an appointment to President Obama's former senate seat.
"It’s tempting there to break the rules," Abramoff said of prison. When asked what rules were being broken he said, "Stealing things out of the kitchen and selling them. There were people sneaking cell phones onto the compound."
But he warned against all of that: “It can get very bad in prison if you break the rules.”
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