Blagojevich, 55, asked last year if he could begin serving his 14-year sentence for corruption near Denver, and a judge made that recommendation.

But U.S. prison officials have the final say and haven't confirmed that's where he will go.

Blagojevich, who was ordered to report to prison on March 15, could end up at a facility other than the one he requested, said his attorney, Carolyn Gurland. But she said he would prefer that the public not know his prison until he is behind bars.

"It's his desire to have dignity surrounding the process," she said. "He wants to surrender without cameras in his face."

That's how it will happen if the U.S. Bureau of Prisons has its way.

There will be no public confirmation about where Blagojevich has been imprisoned until he arrives safely at a facility, Bureau of Prisons spokesman Chris Burke said Wednesday.

"After he arrives, we will verify it," he said, saying that was standard policy with any prisoner—celebrity or not.

A camera-shy Blagojevich slipping into prison would be a sharp departure from the man who gladly ran to the limelight as governor, and then went on a media blitz in the months after his 2008 arrest.

Convicted felons often end up at the prison they request, especially with a judge's recommendation.

The Federal Correctional Institution Englewood—the 75-year-old prison Blagojevich prefers —houses around 700 inmates within 40 acres, the facility's orientation guide says. It is encircled by a high, double-security fence.

Once feted as Illinois' highest ranking state executive, Blagojevich will have a strictly regimented life, no matter the prison. That includes waking at dawn, working a menial eight-hour-a-day job and submitting to constant headcounts.

Gurland said she didn't think Blagojevich's wife, Patti, and their two school-aged children would move from Chicago to be closer to the former governor—wherever he ends up.