Downward Mobility

R. Allen Stanford: Where's the AC?

Accused swindler complains about jail.

R. Allen Stanford isn’t adjusting well to life in prison. According to the New York Post, Stanford—the alleged mastermind behind a $7-billion Ponzi scheme—has complained in court papers that life in his jail cell in Texas is “oppressive.” Stanford says that the cell he is sharing with eight to 10 other inmates in Conroe, Texas, starts to boil when outside temperatures reach 100 degrees. "The cell has been without air conditioning for at least a week,” the papers say. “There are no windows for light or ventilation, and the conditions are intolerable." Stanford’s lawyers have requested that he be transferred to a prison in Houston.