The former mayor of St. Peters, Missouri has checked in to the Federal Prison Camp in Duluth, Minnesota to serve an eighteen-month sentence for soliciting a bribe from Australian red light camera vendor Redflex. Shawn Brown, 35, was convicted of accepting a check for $2750 last June in return for not vetoing the city's proposed contract with Redflex.

Brown is expected to remain incarcerated until August 2008, according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons website. The Duluth minimum security facility is located on the former Duluth Air Force Base. It features dormitory housing, relatively few prison guards and no perimeter fencing. Brown may have as many as eight three-hour visits a month on weekends from friends and family. The facility has a gym and a theater that shows current movies once a week. Other recreational activities include tennis, football and art classes.

Brown was caught after Redflex informed the Federal Bureau of Investigation of his bribery solicitation. This allowed the company to win the camera contract without losing the $2750. Rival vendor Affiliated Computer Services was not as fortunate. The company is currently on trial in Edmonton, Canada for bribing police officers to land a lucrative photo enforcement contract.