NEW YORK - IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn bedded down at New York's notorious Rikers Island jail on Monday night in a rapid and dramatic fall from grace after he was charged with trying to rape a hotel maid.

Separated from other inmates for his own safety, Strauss-Kahn was put in a bare 3.5-by-4 meter cell and given basic bedding, a drinking cup, soap, shampoo and toothpaste.

Just three nights earlier, Strauss-Kahn had slept in a luxurious $3,000-a-day hotel suite complete with conference room, living room, marble bathroom and a bedroom with a king-sized bed and feather and down duvet.