Life will change for actress Lori Loughlin when she surrenders herself to the Federal
Bureau of Prisons on November 19, after pleading guilty for her role in a high-profile college
admissions scandal.
Her lawyers have already recommended that she serve her two-month sentence at a federal
prison camp near Victorville, California; the presiding judge in Loughlin's case has
also already said that Victorville was, quote, "a good location" for the BOP to consider.
Pink Lady Prison Consultants describes the facility as a minimum-security federal women's
prison, reportedly capable of housing 278 inmates, and Loughlin may soon join their
number. But what will she have in store for her behind bars?
Holli Coulman, who served 15 months at Victorville, tells The Mercury News that Loughlin can expect
a, quote, "profound culture shock" when she enters prison.
When she enters the receiving room, she will hand over her clothing and underwear to a
guard, and then be searched for contraband. Her only personal space will be a shared bunk
in a dormitory. She has to be up by 6:30 a.m. to make her bed and get it ready for inspection,
with lights out at 10 p.m. She'll also have to sleep through the noises made by other
inmates.
During the daylight hours, the typical inmate's time will be strictly regulated, so she can't
decide when to do things like watch TV, eat, shower, or call family members.
Martha Stewart, who herself went to federal prison in 2004, described her time in federal
prison on Katie Couric's Next Question podcast in 2017. Unsurprisingly, she said that she
found nothing good about the experience.
"It was horrifying! It was horrifying, and no one, no one, should have to go through
that kind of indignity."
Activist Evie Litwok, who spent time at the same federal prison Martha Stewart was incarcerated
in, told Yahoo! Entertainment that just because a facility is minimum security, that doesn't
necessarily mean it's a walk in the park. As she put it,
"Prison is traumatizing for life. There are 4,000 to 5,000 prisons, jails and detention
centers in the U.S. with about 2.5 million people in them. Is it possible that some people
in some prisons, not necessarily camps, are having an easy time? Yes. I'd say a handful.
But those instances, certainly in women's prisons, are not the norm."
Litwok outlined how restrictive the prison environment was for her. She noted that while
inmates can make phone calls and email people, all communication is monitored. It's likely
Loughlin will have the same experience, and the property she can possess will be also
limited. The only clothing she will be able to wear will be issued by the staff, which
means her regular style of dress will no longer be possible within the walls of the prison.
While Litwok notes that celebs like Loughlin could have an easier time, she'll still have
to eat the same unappetizing prison food everyone else eats, and it's possible the corrections
officers won't be starstruck at all, potentially making her new life even less pleasant.
But even while lawyers were fighting in court to get prosecutors to drop the case, it was
reported back in January that the actress had hired an expert to prepare her for a potential
stay in prison. A source close to the actress told People,
"The whole point is to have someone tell her how to keep herself safe. She needs to keep
a low profile if she's incarcerated. Obviously, she's going to stand out, because of all the
publicity and because she's a star. She can't do anything about that. But she doesn't want
to stand out because she's so green that she does the wrong things...She wants to understand
what the experience will be like, and how to not only survive it, but flourish in it."
But the fight's not necessarily over for Loughlin yet. According to a report by Deadline, Loughlin
and her husband, Mossimo Giannulli may be spared from going into prison, potentially
avoiding incarceration due to the COVID-19 pandemic. But with November still a few months
away, we'll have to wait and see if they can beat that part of the case.
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