Following her sentencing to 14 days in federal prison for her role in the college admissions fraud scandal, Oscar nominee and onetime Desperate Housewives star Felicity Huffman began her new real-life Orange Is the New Black experience on Tuesday in Dublin, California.
The East Bay's Federal Correctional Institution Dublin is one of five federal women's prisons in the country, and minimum security facility was named one of the country's "10 cushiest prisons" by Forbes back in 2009. As SFGate notes, FCI Dublin was also briefly home to Patty Hearst once upon a time in the 70s, as well as would-be Gerald Ford assassin Sara Jane Moore, and later "Hollywood Madam" Heidi Fleiss.
FCI Dublin is currently home to 1,235 female inmates, who all must wear khaki uniforms with their names on them, as KPIX reports.
Huffman will be asked to be awake and get her bed made by 6:30 a.m. on weekdays for the next two weeks, but that rule gets laxer on weekends, when beds need to be made by 10 a.m. There are televisions in each cell — referred to as "units," not cells, in the facility handbook — and inmates are permitted to watch them at various designated hours after their "units" have been cleaned and inspected. There is also a "hair room" where inmates can check out blow-dryers and other items, and sun decks for sunbathing. And while everyone has to be in their cells by 11:45 p.m. on weeknights, they're allowed to be out and socializing until 2:45 a.m. on weekend nights.
As FCI Dublin's director Charles E. Samuels writes in a memo at the front of the handbook, "Nearly all of you will release from prison one day and return to the community... Regardless of how many days, months, or years you may have time to serve, it is critical that you begin your preparation for reentry today!" Also, he adds, that any unwanted "sexual behaviors" or anyone "fearful about being sexually assaulted" should contact staff immediately.
And it sounds like Felicity will actually only serve 13 days of her 14-day sentence. As TMZ reports today, she'll be out on October 27, due to credit for time served during her initial arrest and booking.
Huffman was accused of conspiring with college admissions fraudster William "Rick" Singer, paying him $15,000 to have answers on her daughter's SAT exam changed.
The 56-year-old actress pleaded guilty in federal court in Boston and was sentenced last month. In a statement she read in court, Huffman said, "I would like to apologize again to my daughter, my husband, my family and the educational community for my actions. And I especially want to apologize to the students who work hard every day to get into college, and to their parents who make tremendous sacrifices supporting their children... I have learned a lot over the last six months about my flaws as a person. My goal now is to serve the sentence that the court has given me."
In addition to the prison term, Huffman will have one year of probation and have to serve 250 hours of community service.
Photo: Tim Lundin/Wikimedia