New York, Mar. 15 : It’s a life he would have wished on his worst enemy, but fate and calumny has deemed otherwise.

Not long ago, mega-Ponzi crook Bernard Madoff, who has pleaded guilty to a 65 billion dollar scam, enjoyed the best of world cuisine, boarding and lodging, but now in jail for the next 150 years, he has to make do with frozen chicken patties and canned string beans.

Bernie is being made to tweak his taste for prime rib and cognac amid conditions that are decidedly less refined.

Prisoner No. 61727-054 spent his first night at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in isolation in a special housing unit, known as "the box."

He munched on a microwaved meal of frozen chicken patties and canned string beans delivered to his cell in a Styrofoam container.

"Think of the worst school lunch you ever had," said a woman who visited another inmate at the lower-Manhattan jail yesterday.

"The food that they give is like garbage."

While he''s in "the box," Madoff''s relatives won''t even be allowed to put money into a commissary account, which would allow him to supplement the meager fare with chips or candy bars.

Protocol at the jail puts new prisoners in 23-hour lockdown in the isolation unit for at least several weeks.

Aside from one hour on the rooftop gym, Madoff will spend the rest of his time with a cellmate but no access to television, radio or a telephone.

He is also not allowed any reading material, leaving him with nothing else but time to contemplate the thousands of innocent people he bilked.

For the next few weeks, Madoff won''t be allowed to see anyone aside from his lawyers until jail officials can vet a list of visitors he requests.

But even after that, he is allowed only one hour of visitation time a week.

Madoff was forced to swap his tailored suits for a brown prison jumpsuit, navy-blue briefs and a pair of tube socks.

He is allowed only two showers a week. (ANI)