Safer in prison?

And here I thought prison was considered "punishment." Maybe Madoff is just lying. He's pretty good at that.

Madoff says feels safer in prison than in N.Y.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Imprisoned financial scam artist Bernard Madoff boasted in a jailhouse letter that he is "quite the celebrity" and treated "like a Mafia don," ABC News said on Thursday.

ABC, which will feature an interview with Madoff's daughter-in-law on news program "20/20" on Friday, released portions of a letter provided by Stephanie Madoff Mack, whose husband committed suicide in the wake of his father's conviction in a massive Wall Street fraud.

Mack told ABC she had written Madoff a letter detailing family events he was missing due to his life sentence of 150 years behind bars...

The smug-sounding reply from Madoff, whom Mack said she holds responsible for her husband's death, enraged her.

"As you can imagine, I am quite the celebrity, and am treated like a Mafia don," Madoff wrote from the North Carolina prison where he is incarcerated.

"They call me either Uncle Bernie or Mr. Madoff. I can't walk anywhere without someone shouting their greetings and encouragement, to keep my spirit up.

"It's really quite sweet, how concerned everyone is about my well being, including the staff ... It's much safer here than walking the streets of New York."

Read the rest here.