Jailed Lobbyist Settles Into Prison

After a little more than a year in prison, defrocked K Street lobbyist Jack Abramoff appears to be settling into his cramped, no-frills lifestyle. Sources with inside info report that the lobbyist who once plied lawmakers with goodies has acclimated to life inside a minimum-security Maryland prison 130 miles from Washington. We're told that he's "not down in the dumps" and has maintained a steady composure despite his five-year, 10-month sentence in a Florida fraud case and his upcoming sentencing for fraud, tax evasion, and conspiracy to bribe public officials.

He's even sympathetic to those who can't afford the time to drive out for a visit and lately has been showing off his trademark humor. Still, he frets that the one call he's waiting for hasn't come through. "He thinks somebody's going to write the great biography on him," says a friendly source.

By Paul Bedard