Bernard Madoff set for isolation for his own protection

The 71-year-old, sentenced to the maximum jail term for the biggest swindle in the history of Wall Street, could become a target for those who want to "make a name for themselves", an ex-inmate has warned prison officials.

Steve Vincent, a former police officer who was jailed for theft and now runs the Federal Prison Consultant Services in Louisville, Kentucky, said: "If they see an opportunity to take that man out and be in the paper and make a name for themselves, what do they have to lose?"

He said the only way to protect Madoff was to keep him away.

"Wherever he goes, they're going to put him in solitary," he added.

The Bureau of Prisons has yet to decide where Madoff will serve his time but he is likely to be incarcerated as a medium or high-security prison, probably in the northeastern US, according to lawyers.

The sentence for the former Nasdaq chairman, whose firm once accounted for 10 per cent of the trades on the New York Stock Exchange, will mean he is unlikely to be granted parole and will die behind bars.

Reading the verdict, Judge Denny Chin described his crimes as "extraordinarily evil".

He said Madoff's $65 billion pyramid scheme exceeded all sentencing guidelines, which stop at frauds of $400 million.

"Objectively speaking, the fraud here is staggering," he said. "It spanned more than 20 years. The fraud reached thousands of victim. It's off the chart by manifold."

Those affected by his scam included big companies, banks, the very wealthy and ordinary people who trusted him with their hard-earned cash.

In court, Madoff had sought to explain his behaviour, calling it a "problem", "an error of judgment" and a "tragic mistake".

He said that he had originally thought he would be able to pay back investors, but the pyramid scheme got too big.

"The harder I tried, the deeper a hole I dug for myself," he said.