Anyone caught stealing from the taxpayers should serve prison time. There should be no exceptions.

But if a plea agreement filed Monday is accepted, a former head of the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission, like many other white-collar criminals before him, will escape time behind bars, unlike many people of lower economic circumstances or less prominence who go to jail for crimes of lesser significance.

Monday's agreement involves Mitchell Rubin, who federal prosecutors say got a no-work contract from a former state senator. That former senator is Vincent Fumo of Philadelphia. Fortunately, Fumo is one former violator of the public's trust who ended up going to jail — albeit not for nearly as long as he deserves.

Fumo's jail time of 55 months amounts to a pittance of what he should have gotten for multiple counts of fraud, obstruction of justice and tax evasion.

In obstruction-of-justice charges filed last week, prosecutors alleged Rubin withheld information about his relationship with Fumo and the awarding of a state Senate contract to Rubin's firm, B&R Professional Services.

On the surface, B&R's five-year, $30,000-a-year contract involved service as a legislative consultant to the Senate Democratic Appropriations Committee, which Fumo chaired. B&R was to perform "research, analysis and make recommendations on legislative matters, (and) assist on constituent services."

Instead, prosecutors alleged that the contract really was a taxpayer-paid no-work pact.

The contract was consistent not only with the massive web of corruption that surrounded Fumo, but also with the kind of state-level corruption that a commonwealth grand jury has found in connection with the ongoing Bonusgate investigation.

Corruption has become the culture in Pennsylvania state government. Change is long overdue, and ensuring jail time for anyone convicted of — or pleading guilty to — ripping off the taxpayers would be a big step in the right direction.

But that apparently won't be Rubin's fate. Instead of going to jail, he is to spend five years on probation, the first six months on house arrest — although he will be able to go to work Monday through Friday.

With an exception like that, the house arrest won't be much of an inconvenience.

The plea agreement also calls for Rubin to pay $150,000 directly to the state Senate and do 150 hours of community service. Under that community service provision, he ought to be required to speak to high school civics classes about government corruption and ways in which the Pennsylvania General Assembly could clean up its act.

The talks with students also could focus on the need for honest leadership, unlike the kind that the Fumo and Bonusgate scandals revealed.

But the fact remains that, because he cheated the taxpayers — that's what he intends to admit in the plea agreement — Rubin should have the opportunity to see what it is like behind prison walls.

It's good that Rubin isn't getting off scot-free, but his sentence nonetheless is an assault on state taxpayers' right to justice.

Because of that, his sentence will not be the kind of deterrent to future corruption on the state level that it should be.