Jack Abramoff’s fellow inmates didn’t really know what to think of him during his three-and-a-half-year stint in prison, the disgraced lobbyist revealed Tuesday to Carol Joynt at her Q&A Cafe program at the Georgetown Ritz-Carlton. Joynt questioned Abramoff extensively about his time in the slammer, asking him to name his worst days (the day he arrived and the day his mother died) and whether his “Casino Jack” nickname stuck (it didn’t). She also asked about his overall reputation. “Part of my problem was I was constantly in the media,” Abramoff said, telling a story about what happened when Bill Moyers’ special aired. “I noticed all the television rooms were full, just packed, and I thought, ‘it looks like the Super Bowl.’ I wondered what’s going on, maybe ‘Friday Night Lights?’ I couldn’t imagine what’s happening until I turned the corner and saw myself on the television.” Abramoff said he went back to his cubicle and waited for the special to be over. “They came filing out of the television room and it was interesting to me because as the inmates walked by half of them looked at me very disparagingly … the other half walked by and gave me a thumbs up as if I’d gained some sort of gangster credibility,” he laughed. “So the inmates didn’t know quite what to think of me.”
Abramoff was also viewed as an odd duck because of the visitors he attracted, from members of Congress to Hollywood types like actor Kevin Spacey, who played Abramoff in the film “Casino Jack,” and the late director George Hicknelooper. “I asked them to send me the script ahead of time,” he said. “It was very uneven and the structure was really faulty,” he continued. But then he admitted why he really didn’t like his portrayal. “And you were boring?” Joynt chimed in. “Well,” Abramoff said. “That’s the worst part of it.”
Abramoff is currently promoting his book, “Capitol Punishment.”
