WHITE PLAINS, N.Y.—A one-time top New York lawmaker has surrendered at a federal prison camp to serve a year and a day for tax evasion.

The Bureau of Prisons says former state Sen. Nicholas Spano checked in Monday at the Schuylkill prison in Minersville, Pa. He was assigned to its low-security, unfenced prison camp.

Spano admitted in February that he underpaid his income taxes by $53,000. He spent 28 years in the state Legislature. As assistant majority leader in the Senate, he was among New York's most powerful politicians.

A prison bureau spokesman says inmates at the camp live in dormitories. He says all able-bodied prisoners are assigned work details in food service, landscaping or janitorial. They have access to education, religious programs and vocational training.