Jodi Arias will most likely spend the rest of her life in prison. Just what is prison life
like for an infamous murderer? Interviews and articles paint a surprisingly complex picture.
Jodi Arias was convicted for the first-degree murder of Travis Alexander
in May 2013. Arias was eventually moved to Perryville Prison in Goodyear, Arizona,
to serve out her life sentence without the possibility of parole. According to Parade,
the facility isn't even an hour away from her victim's hometown of Mesa.
But before the move to her long-term confinement, Arias was transferred a
few times. She spent time in the Arizona State Prison Complex, the Estrella Jail,
and the Maricopa County Jail, according to The Cinemaholic.
It was at the Estrella location that she met her cellmates,
Tracy Brown and Donovan Bering. She became friends with the two women until they both
realized that it was a mistake to form a close relationship with the convicted killer.
It might not be surprising to hear that the first two years were some of the worst of Jodi
Arias' long sentence. The convicted felon was held in maximum custody at Perryville Prison.
ABC15 described the difficult conditions of her new life. Not only was the cell 12
feet by 7 feet, but she was forced to remain there for 23 hours of the day.
"Jodi Arias' life will now fit in a seven by twelve foot box.
Look at how big that really is. Or should I say, small."
Arias was allowed visitors for two hours per week, but the interactions were separated
by thick glass. Although she remained at Perryville, Arias was eventually put into
the less restrictive custody. According to her inmate file obtained by 12 News,
she could have cellmates again, as well as interact with the other prisoners in a group.
In the following years, the convict enjoyed increased freedom and kept busy working at
the Lumley Library of her unit. Arias began the part-time gig as a library aide in 2018.
Before then, she had the unpleasant task of scrubbing toilets, according to prison
records obtained by RadarOnline. The new library job came with a pay cut of 10 cents,
but she had only been making 50 cents an hour.
In 2016, Phoenix Rapper Kareem "Lefty" Williams produced a video about Jodi Arias. The two
managed to get in touch via a phone call in 2016, which was posted on RadarOnline.
In the conversation, the felon provides a brief view of her life on the inside and
admits that her situation isn't always bad, especially when it comes to the food. She
usually gets a heads-up when her favorite meals are available and there's a new menu
posted every week. Arias made the options from Monday through Friday sound rather bleak, saying:
"On the weekends they give us a hot dinner,
on the weekdays it's like sandwiches. Nothing is very good."
Even TV host Nancy Grace visited Estrella jail to investigate the food served to Arias in prison.
"We package our own peanut butter. We buy it in, uh, five gallon white
buckets, uh, and uh, we have a machine that'll uh, measure it so they get the right amount."
But the cooked meals served at the end of the week seem
like a real treat. She described some of the offerings, saying:
'We had chicken fajitas here tonight.' 'Oh wow.'
'They were so good. Bing old pile of like, caramelized onions, and some bell peppers."
She later described her breakfast with hash browns, bell peppers, onions, and cheese,
along with buttered pancakes, syrup, cereal, fruit, and a sausage patty. Just like with the
dinners, Arias said the morning meals are always better on the weekends.
While Jodi Arias may be physically prohibited from leaving the penitentiary, her exposure to the
outside world isn't as limited. In her recorded phone call with rapper Kareem "Lefty" Williams
in 2016, the convict revealed she can listen to FM radio stations, plus watch a list of TV
channels. The latter include Univision, ABC, CBS, PBS, FOX, BET, CNN, TNT, USA, Lifetime, and A&E.
On top of the regular TV channels, Arias mentions that she can also view some digital media,
but her overall access to the internet has restrictions. In her recent comments on
her website, Arias talks about having her own tablet that has a news app.
Being locked up isn't as much of an isolating experience for Jodi Arias as it would seem.
Her links to the outside world went beyond the consistent visitors, TV shows, and radio
stations. In his conversation with Arias, Kareem "Lefty" Williams mentioned that he has taken a
lot of strong criticism and straight-up hateful comments over his video featuring the prisoner.
'You just came here to rap about Jodi Arias, right?'
'That's, that's, that's my homie.'
Her response was telling about how she viewed her own situation regarding the public. Arias replied:
"Oh yeah, haters are gonna hate."
Williams responded by saying that both of them might be two of the most hated people
alive. Arias responded by describing how her situation was the polar opposite. She said:
"It's all good. If this is what it is like to be hated,
then keep hating! I've had so much love coming in my direction I can't even respond to it now."
During the many years that Jodi Arias has spent inside a prison cell,
her friends help her connect to the outside world. In 2013, Donavan Bering handled numerous
posts on all of Arias' social media accounts. During their interactions,
Arias gave specific directions on exactly what to say and who to communicate with.
When asked by ABC News about why Bering sacrificed so much of her time assisting Arias,
she explained that she had a difficult time finding Arias guilty of her crimes. Bering said:
"Never, ever have I seen her raise her voice, seen her yell, seen her do anything. So,
when I'm sitting there in court, it blows me away because I'm sitting there knowing the
person that I know, seeing her and talking to her and see[ing] how much compassion she has."
'I wish I could just say wait a minute, you know. That's not true, you know–.'
'Well what would you say?' 'I'd say, I'd say that's not Jodi.'
But according to Inside Edition's Jodi Arias: Cellmate Secrets,
Bering's opinion of Arias soured, having witnessed her manipulative
behavior. Arias managed to find someone else to take Bering's place. In 2018,
prison officials were aware of her strong social media presence, as reported by 12 News.
Jodi Arias has used the internet and her network of friends outside
of prison to sell her artwork on one of her personal websites , Art By Jodi
Arias. Arias explains on her website why she began making art, saying:
"The act of creating art has been with me since I was old enough to hold a crayon and has remained
a part of my life in varying degrees, from mere dabbling to blissful obsession."
But she also admitted that her reasoning had to do with struggling while incarcerated. She added:
"I often felt hungry in jail, and my family could do little to financially support me,
an adult who should have been feeding herself."
Paintings and drawings are not the only types of art that Arias
has been paid for while behind bars. In an interview with Inside Edition,
Arias' former cellmate Tracy Brown gave details on how she worked as a
tattoo artist for fellow inmates. Brown has several tattoos that Arias had done for her.
It took years before Donavan Bering and Tracy Brown realized Jodi Arias' true nature. The
two ultimately ended their friendship with her and recently revealed what their former
cellmate was like on the inside. When talking with Inside Edition, Brown explained how Arias would
manipulate prison guards, fellow inmates, or even people outside of prison when possible. She said:
"She will use you to get what she wants, and when she's done with you, she will throw you away."
According to Inside Edition, Bering agreed,
saying she felt fooled into defending Arias for so long. She said:
"She got away with things that other inmates didn't get away with. She was
a very attractive young girl who liked to flirt, and the male guards just ate it up."
Aside from Bering's dedicated social media management, Arias also benefited greatly from what
she was able to obtain from the prison guards, including the means to perform her internet side
hustle. Brown explained that there were a couple officers that she would flirt with:
"And they would find the tattoo equipment, things you can get in trouble for. Leave it alone.”
High temperatures due to regional climate or unexpected heat waves can be extremely
dangerous for prison inmates. In Arizona, where Jodi Arias is serving her jail sentence,
the heat can reach over 120 degrees Fahrenheit. According to The Daily Beast,
those heat conditions can sometimes lead to hospitalizations or even death.
But Arias has often been provided with resources to mitigate the danger — and
provide comfort that many other incarcerated individuals do not
have access to. A post on Arias' website revealed that prison guards were supplying
ice in a Styrofoam cooler for her to use with her fan, according to RadarOnline.
But according to her website, in 2021, someone announced that they would attempt
to break Arias out of confinement, so she was moved to another cell with the luxury
of air conditioning. Over the years, Arias has had access to other perks,
too. It's been reported that she possesses a respectable collection of magazines and has
been allowed to have some fashion options, such as a set of brand-new tennis shoes.
As described by The New York Times, there are plenty of incarcerated individuals who have had
a far worse experience than Jodi Arias. But her life on the inside hasn't been pleasant,
with probably the worst aspect being the numerous threats that have been made against her.
In 2015, Arias was sent a letter that was confiscated before it reached her,
which warned that there was a plot to hire an inmate to harm her, according to 12 News.
The following year, Arias claimed another inmate was heard yelling at her, saying:
"I'm going to [expletive] kill you [expletive] the same way you killed [redacted name]."
In 2021, another event occurred which was more bizarre than life-threatening. A man
whom Arias had never met before claimed that he was going to rescue her from prison. He
was caught in the process, as explained on JodiAriasIsInnnocent.com. For her safety,
Arias was moved to a more secure location and was forced to pause her daily activities.
In 2012, while Jodi Arias was preparing to go to trial for the brutal murder of Travis Alexander,
a wealthy art collector named Ben Ernst became interested in Arias. Ernst was dating another
woman at the time, but began communicating with Arias. A friend of Ernst told In Touch:
"They quickly became buddies and eventually were talking on the phone about three times a week."
Even though Arias had been convicted, the couple still became serious enough that she began making
wedding plans and even spoke about having a child with Ernst. Her imprisonment was a major obstacle,
so she wrote a letter to her friend and mitigation specialist, Maria De La Rosa, that said:
"Ben can't come visit. So, here's what he needs to do. If we marry,
then he can petition a court to grant us visitation."
The marriage never happened but it didn't stop her boyfriend from
visiting her in the following years. In 2019, RadarOnline revealed that
Ernst still went to see Arias several times a month. Although conjugal
visits are prohibited in the Arizona prison system, their visits were several hours long.
After Jodi Arias' sentencing, her visitor privileges were extremely limited. Her visits
were no-contact with a glass wall in between and she was only allowed to have two hours a
week with her guests, according to ABC15. Her list of approved visitors was limited to 20,
and each one had to pay a fee and pass a background check inorder to see her.
In her 2016 phone call with Kareem "Lefty" Williams, Arias spoke about how she would
soon have contact visits. Since then, she's had guests often and most of them aren't a
surprise. According to RadarOnline, visitors include her mother, Sandra, and her brother,
Joseph, and sister, Angela, plus the frequent visits of boyfriend Ben Ernst.
In 2020, reports of misconduct and sexual harassment from prosecutor Juan Martinez led
first to his firing, and then disbarment in July, according to The Associated Press. Martinez was
the attorney in Jodi Arias' trial, so her legal team quickly seized the opportunity and appealed
the court's decision. Martinez had revealed the identity of a juror in the case to a blogger he
was sleeping with, and Arias' lawyers argued that the judge didn't do enough to control the media
coverage. Her lawyers stated that both incidents deprived her of the right to a fair trial.
While the Arizona Court of Appeals was critical of Martinez's behavior
and he was eventually disbarred, the ruling made it clear that it
had nothing to do with the outcome of Arias' case. The statement read:
"We conclude that Arias was convicted based upon the overwhelming evidence of her guilt,
not as a result of prosecutorial misconduct. [...] We strongly disapprove of his actions;
we are compelled to follow the well-established principle that
we do not 'reverse convictions merely to punish a prosecutor's misdeeds.'"
The failure of the appeal, and with no chance for parole, means that Arias will continue
living in similar conditions as she does now for the entirety of her life sentence.