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Monday, June 27, 2011

Ex-Tyco chief Dennis Kozlowski suing to get work release from prison

Dennis Kozlowski


















Well, he does have a way with numbers.

Imprisoned former tycoon Dennis Kozlowski says he has a job offer waiting and wants to get back to work.

The disgraced ex-Tyco CEO -- who's serving eight to 25 years on grand larceny and other charges -- says he's been wrongfully denied work release three times in the past year, and has filed suit in a bid to get a temporary reprieve from prison.

Kozlowski, 64, is penned up at the Mid-State Correctional Facility upstate for using the conglomerate's cash to support his ultra-lavish lifestyle, which included an apartment with a $6,000 gold shower curtain and a $15,000 umbrella stand.

The filing says that he's snagged "a job offer that suits his background and skills" and that he should be allowed to take it.

Kozlowski contends he should get a break in part because he has paid up $90 million of the $100 million in restitution he was ordered to pay, and because he has stayed out of trouble.

"During the more than five years of his incarceration, Mr. Kozlowski has been a model inmate. He has never been disciplined for the violation of any prison rule," the filing says.

"Mr. Kozlowski has participated in every program at Mid-State that is available to him. He participated in the alcohol substance-abuse treatment program, which he completed in March of 2009, and tutored inmates studying for their GED examinations. He has also worked on laundry duty, and, as a part of the 'think before you act' anger-management course, helped other inmates with the program."

Kozlowski says he now has a job lined up at the Assets Technology Group, which wants to hire him as "director of former offender instructional solutions."

The CEO of the company, which offers job training to former inmates, said in a letter to the prison superintendent that the infamous cheat would be "an extraordinary asset."

Three temporary-release committee tribunals unanimously approved his applications, but they've been overruled by Mid-State's superintendent, who noted the "seriousness and sophistication" of his crimes.

Kozlowski appealed the rejection to the state correction commissioner, who upheld them.

Kozlowski's filing says he wants an Albany judge to overrule the commissioner's "arbitrary and capricious" decision.

His lawyer, Alan Lewis, said, "It is highly unlikely that the entire state prison system had a better candidate for work release than Dennis Kozlowski."

A spokesman for the state Department of Correctional Services declined comment, citing the pending litigation.

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