NEW YORK (AP) — Armed guards stand watch 24 hours a day. Cameras record every move, and monitors alert authorities should the prisoner try to escape. This is Dominique Strauss-Kahn’s new jail away from jail, after the former IMF leader charged with sexually assaulting a maid left a New York City jail for a posh and pricey house arrest.

The plans hit a snag Friday when a tony Upper East Side apartment complex refused to accept the one-time French presidential contender because of unwanted media attention.

Instead, Strauss-Kahn was ensconced yesterday in a lower Manhattan high-rise within the New York Police Department’s ring of steel, a network of private and police cameras. He’s guarded by Stroz Friedberg, the same security firm that kept disgraced financier Bernard Madoff under surveillance in his own penthouse.

It’s not clear when and where he’d be moved to a more permanent house arrest; calls to his attorney and to the security firm yesterday weren’t returned.

Even with the severe restrictions, Strauss-Kahn’s family wealth has afforded him one of the cushiest bail agreements possible. But it won’t come cheap. The cost to secure the former International Monetary Fund chief was estimated at about $200,000 a month — and he must foot the bill. In comparison, it costs the city about $6,500 a month to house an inmate at a facility like Rikers Island, where he had been held nearly a week.

The funds will go toward armed surveillance, the installation of cameras and a special bracelet shackled to his ankle that will set off an alarm if he travels too far.

Right now, he’s not allowed out at all, but after he’s moved to a more permanent location he can leave for court, doctor visits and weekly religious services. Prosecutors must be notified at least six hours before he goes anywhere. He can’t be out between 10:00 pm and 6:00 am.

And he won’t be lonely: Strauss-Kahn can take visitors — up to four at a time in addition to family.

The 62-year-old was indicted by a grand jury this week on charges including criminal sexual abuse and attempted rape in the alleged attack last weekend at the Sofitel hotel near Manhattan’s Times Square.

A spokeswoman for Stroz Friedberg had no comment on their latest client.

The company has a history of high-stakes, high-wealth clients: It secured Mahender and Varsha Sabhnani, a rich Long Island couple convicted of enslaving two domestic servants they brought from Indonesia by keeping their travel documents while having them perform forced labour. Over the course of the couple’s home detention, the firm was chastised by a judge for allowing Mahender Sabhnani to stay out at business meetings in Manhattan until 1:00 am.

And then there’s Madoff, who was under house arrest for over a year before he began serving a 150-year prison term in 2009 for swindling investors of billions. In a case study posted on its website on its involvement with Madoff, the company said round-the-clock monitoring was done by retired federal and high-ranking New York City officers who kept tabs on everything, from deliveries in and out of the building to recording his every move.

Strauss-Kahn is accused of attacking a 32-year-old housekeeper last Saturday in his $3,000-a-night hotel suite. The West African immigrant told police he chased her down a hallway in the suite, forced her to perform oral sex and tried to remove her stockings. He is scheduled for arraignment on June 6.