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NEW YORK (CNN/Money) -
Former Tyco chief executive Dennis Kozlowski faces the music Monday.
Kozlowski, along with former Tyco CFO Mark Swartz, was found guilty in June of stealing hundreds of millions of dollars from the manufacturing conglomerate. The sentencing comes Monday. Both men face up to 30 years in state prison, but are hoping for a lot less.
If other high profile cases serve as an example, they may not get a break. Bernie Ebbers received 25 years for his part in orchestrating corporate fraud at WorldCom, and John Rigas, the founder of Adelphia Communications, was sentenced to 15 years.
However, unlike Ebbers and Rigas, 58-year-old Kozlowski is being sentenced in state court, and while federal judges are advised to follow strict sentencing guidelines, New York State Supreme Court Judge Michael Obus will have more discretion when he makes his decision.
Legal experts said an important factor Judge Obus will consider is the size of the loss created by the crime. For Kozlowski, who was found guilty of stealing $600 million from Tyco International, that doesn't bode well.
Kozlowski could receive a sentence range of as little as 1 to 3 years or as much as 8.3 to 25 years, according to Peter Henning, a professor at Wayne State University Law School. And while unlikely, the sentence could even go as high as 30 years. At a minimum he will have to serve the lower end of his sentencing range.
Kozlowski's defense is likely to argue that his crime was non-violent and that he poses no real threat, but given the size of the loss, Henning said he expects the former CEO to receive a substantial term that exceeds the minimum.
Doing time in state prison
Kozlowski faces harsh conditions in the state prison system, which doesn't have facilities akin to the "Club Feds" -- minimum security facilities where white collar criminals in federal cases generally serve their time.
"The federal system has special facilities for white collar offenders, but the state system just doesn't have that," former New York prosecutor David Gourevitch said.
State prisons tend to house more violent criminals and other than protective custody, offer little by way of special treatment.
The New York state prison system includes three separate security levels: maximum, medium and minimum, according to Linda Foglia, a spokeswoman for the New York State Department of Correctional Services. But "right now it is too premature to determine which facility or which facility level (Kozlowski) will be classified and sent to," she said.
Some facilities offer protective custody units, which are for inmates "unable to function in the general population setting," but inmates have to be received and undergo an extensive review before they are moved to a more permanent facility.
Too much time for the crime?
Kozlowski's sentencing comes amid a spate of heavy sentences for crimes which once were routinely punished with probation.
"These sentences frankly are out of control. You get a sentence that's akin to what you would get for a homicide or for rape," Gourevitch said. "In a white collar case, it doesn't seem to make a lot of sense."
If Kozlowski is sentenced to six or more years, he could be sent to a maximum security facility, such as Attica or Sing Sing, where inmates are housed in cells. Medium and minimum security prison inmates, on the other hand, are housed in open military barrack-style housing units.
Henning said changes to federal sentencing guidelines, which calibrate the sentence to the size of loss created by the crime, have set the parameters for the lengthy sentences, but that public sentiment has played an important role as well.
"You have never before seen these types of substantial terms of imprisonment for white collar sentences," he said. "Judges don't like to acknowledge that they respond to public pressure but they are aware of it," he said.
In June, a jury found Kozlowski guilty on 22 of 23 counts of grand larceny and conspiracy, falsifying business records and violating general business law.
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Click here for more about the outcome of Kozlowski's trial.
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