MORGANTOWN, W.V. -- The first stop Patrick Cannon will make at the Federal Correctional Institution in Morgantown will be the front guard shack.
Here he will be checking in sometime before Tuesday evening to begin serving his 44 month sentence for political corruption.
NBC Charlotte's Rad Berky is in Morgantown covering all developments. We'll update you as they happen.
The former mayor will be processed and fingerprinted before he joins the rest of the 1100 inmates on the sprawling grounds that look more like a summer camp then a prison.
There are no visible fences and no barbed wire. There is a ball field and volleyball courts clearly visible from the road.
He will eventually be assigned a job and will make somewhere between 12 and 40-cents per hour.
The money will come in handy in the commissary where where he can buy a wide range of items including pink salmon for $2.75 or a deck of cards for $2.60.
The facility is about 12 miles from downtown Morgantown, the home of the University of West Virginia.
It is set back on a rural road, and there is a mobile home park right across the street.
One of the residents who lives in there is John Capuder, whose home lot overlooks the prison.
He says he rarely sees any of the inmates, and is not worried about the prospect of an escape.
"I've got a loaded shotgun in here anyhow, so I am not concerned whatsoever," he said.
Sources told NBC Charlotte that the former mayor would likely report to prison a day early. Monday night, the scene at his Ballantyne house was quiet; there was no activity outside, and no lights appeared to be on inside the home. Up until reporting to prison, Cannon was required to be at home as a part of his house arrest for violating his bond.
RELATED:
