Former U.S. Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham is now Inmate 94405-198.

That's the Federal Bureau of Prisons number assigned to the former 50th Congressional District Republican lawmaker, who sits in a cell at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in San Diego after being sentenced Friday to eight years and four months in prison for bribery and tax evasion.

Cunningham was taken into custody immediately following his sentencing in U.S. District Court after Judge Larry Alan Burns rejected his plea for time to see his 91-year-old mother before reporting to prison.

In denying Cunningham's request, Burns told Cunningham that "judgment day" had arrived for the man whose name is now synonymous with congressional corruption and that he would begin serving his sentence immediately.

The sentence began shortly after 3 p.m. Friday when Cunningham, who resigned from Congress on Dec. 1, was escorted by U.S. marshals from the San Diego federal district courthouse to the correctional center at 808 Union St.

Center spokesman Bryan Feinstein said Monday that Cunningham will remain housed in the 12-floor facility until the bureau completes its evaluations and determines where he should be sent.

The correctional center is an administrative facility that houses inmates awaiting trial or those who have been sentenced and are waiting to find out where they will do their time.

While Feinstein said he was forbidden from providing specific information about Cunningham's cell assignment or other personal information, he said all new inmates undergo an immediate physical and psychological evaluation.

The downtown jail had 961 inmates as of Monday, Feinstein said.

Judge Burns recommended Cunningham be assigned to a work camp at the Federal Correctional Institute at Taft, a town of about 10,000 people about 32 miles from Bakersfield in Kern County.

Taft is one of the federal system's privately run institutions. It includes a traditional prison as well as the adjacent work camp. As of last week, the main prison had 1,758 inmates while the camp had a population of 565, according the bureau of prison's Web site.

That Web site describes federal prison work camps as having dormitory-style housing and a relatively low staff-to-inmate ratio with limited or no perimeter fencing.

"These institutions are work- and program-oriented and many are located adjacent to larger institutions where inmates help serve the labor needs of the larger institution."

Taft spokeswoman Julie Strongin said she could not describe the facility in detail without first getting the approval of the bureau of prisons, approval of which had not come as of late Monday.

Sandra Hijar at the bureau's western regional office at Dublin in Northern California said Monday that for security reasons the agency will not disclose Cunningham's prison assignment until after he has arrived.

Cunningham's attorney, K. Lee Blalack, said shortly after Friday's sentencing that he hopes Cunningham's further cooperation with the ongoing investigation into co-conspirators in the case could result in some amount of time being shaved off his sentence.

There is no early parole in the federal prison system. The best an inmate can hope for is a reduction in sentence based on the kind of cooperation to which Blalack referred or credit for good behavior, which is limited to 54 days a year. Blalack sought a six-year prison term while federal prosecutors argued for the maximum 10-year term he could have received under a plea agreement.

Cunningham's sentence of eight years and four months is the longest prison sentence ever slapped on a lawmaker in a congressional corruption case.

Assuming Cunningham does not have any time cut from his sentence for cooperating but does get credit for good behavior, he would have to serve seven years and one month.

If he is deemed medically able to work while in prison, Cunningham will be paid a wage of 12 cents to start, with the opportunity to see that raised to a maximum of 40 cents per hour.

In addition to his prison sentence, he must pay at least $1.8 million in back taxes at the rate of $1,500 a month while in prison and $1,000 a month upon release, drawing on his congressional and military pensions to make those payments.

A special election to fill out Cunningham's unexpired congressional term is set for April 11.

Cunningham's fall from a seat in Congress to a seat in a federal prison cell started in June when it was reported Washington defense contractor Mitchell J. Wade paid $700,000 more for the Vietnam War ace Navy pilot's home in Del Mar Heights that he would sell it for 11 months later.

A subsequent federal investigation led to Cunningham's Nov. 28 guilty pleas in which he admitted taking more than $2.4 million in cash and material bribes from Wade and others.

Still unresolved in the case is what will happen with Brent Wilkes, owner of the Poway defense firm ADCS, who is a co-conspirator in the case. Also yet to be resolved is what will happen to two other co-conspirators, New York developer Thomas Kontogiannis and his son-in-law, John T. Michael.

Wade pleaded guilty to bribery and election fraud on Feb. 24 and faces up to 11 years in prison when he is sentenced.

Contact staff writer Mark Walker at (760) 740-3529 or mlwalker@nctimes.com.