Abramoff is staying at an all-male, 334-bed facility near a branch of the Potomac River.

The prison's executive assistant, Stephen Finger, told the AP that Abramoff, like other incoming inmates, will be assigned to menial jobs like food service work. Inmates can work their way up from these low-level jobs to better positions, paying up to 40 cents an hour.

When he's not working, Abramoff is likely to be singing -- to the feds, that is. He's expected to continue cooperating with the Justice Department in its wide-ranging probe of Congress, members of the Bush administration and their aides. The Justice Department sought to keep Abramoff out of prison on the Florida charges, but a Miami judge refused. The Justice Department did get Abramoff assigned to a prison closer to Washington, to aid his cooperation while he awaits sentencing in D.C.

Abramoff's scandal has ensnared former Rep. Bob Ney, R-OH, who is facing 27 months in federal prison when he is sentenced in January; Ney's former chief of staff, Neil Volz; David Safavian, a Bush administration official in the Office of Management and Budget, who has been sentenced to 18 months in prison for lying to investigators about Abramoff; two aides to former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-TX; and Sen. Conrad Burns, R-MT, who lost his reelection bid last week in a race that turned, in part, on Burns's ties to Abramoff.  

Another member of Congress who may be involved in the investigation is Rep. John Doolittle, R-CA, who took campaign money from Abramoff and used Abramoff's luxury sports box for a fundraiser without initially reporting it.

The scandal capped a year of corruption in both houses of Congress, involving members from both parties -- including Rep. William Jefferson, D-LA, who (while under investigation for demanding trade-deal kickbacks for family) faces a Dec. 9 runoff for his New Orleans-area seat; and Rep. Alan Mollohan, D-WV, who is under scrutiny for steering earmarks to nonprofits he set up, or which are run by friends and former congressional staff.

Incoming Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-NV, also faced questions last month about a Nevada land deal that yielded a $700,000 profit, and was shamed into paying tips to staff at his Washington apartment building out of his pocket, instead of from his campaign funds.

Oh, and don't forget that in this space yesterday I talked about John Murtha, D-PA, the man Nancy Pelosi supports for House majority leader, who knows how to trade earmarks for votes and who was involved -- but not charged -- in the Abscam scandal back in 1980.

(By the way, Ruth Marcus in today's Washington Post (registration required) argues that Murtha's behavior in Abscam alone -- in which he refuses to take a $50,000 bribe from undercover feds but contemplates ways the money could be given to a political supporter -- disqualifies him for Majority Leader.)  

Again, this is why you need to make sure Congress takes strong, definitive action on ethics -- stronger rules changes on the first day of the 110th Congress, and legislation to create an independent ethics commission like that listed in the Castle-Leach bill, HR 4920.

If we ever needed stronger ethics rules and laws on Capitol Hill to protect us from the win-at-any-cost behavior of special-interest lobbyists and opportunistic politicians, NOW is the time.