Bernard Madoff's lawyer Ira Sorkin appeals to spring Bernie from jail

Bernie Madoff's lawyer is trying to spring his thieving client out of jail.

Ira Sorkin is appealing Manhattan Federal Court Judge Denny Chin's decision to immediately imprison the courtly crook after he pleaded guilty to destroying the lives of thousands of people with a $65 billion Ponzi scheme.

Sorkin is seeking to have the 70-year-old Madoff returned to house arrest at his swanky E. 64th St. duplex.
The appeals court was expected to render its decision later Friday.

Now known as federal inmate No. 61727-054, Madoff spent his first night at the Metropolitan Correctional Center.

Barring a successful appeal, Madoff will remain there until June 16, when he is sentenced to a federal prison facility.

His spartan cell is a far cry from his upper East Side pad.

Instead of having his loving wife, Ruth, for company, Madoff is sharing a roof with assorted rapists, murderers - even thieves like him.

Instead of a sumptuously appointed pad with a panoramic view of Manhattan, he has a steel sink and toilet and can see just a sliver of the city through a barred window - if he's lucky.

Madoff might as well get used to the ambiance - he's facing up to 150 years in prison.

Chin wasted no time Thursday in shoving Madoff inside. He didn't even give prosecutors a chance to argue that Madoff deserves to rot in jail.

"I don't want to hear from the government," Denny said. "Mr. Madoff, I will see you at sentencing."

Victims of Madoff's mendacity crowding the courtroom burst into applause and a chapter closed in a case of epic fraud that made Madoff's name synonymous with unbridled greed.

Before he was jailed, Madoff delivered a 12-minute address in which he admitted he was a con man.

"I realized my arrest and this day would inevitably come," Madoff read. "I am ... deeply sorry and ashamed."

Madoff said he never invested any of the money he was entrusted with - and just stuck the loot into an account at Chase Manhattan Bank. He said he began making "bogus" investments in the 1990s.

Asked why he did it, the disgraced Wall Street wizard gave an answer that was long on chutzpah and short on credibility: He did it to survive the 1990s recession.

Madoff insisted his brother and two sons played no part in his wrongdoing. He made no mention of Ruth, who like the rest of his family remains under federal investigation.

When it came time to plead, Madoff uttered the word "guilty" 11 times.

Madoff "is no longer entitled to the presumption of innocence," Chin said. "In light of his age, he has the incentive to flee. He has the means to flee."

Prosecutors also want Madoff to cough up $170 billion in restitution.