The low-security prison, sometimes referred to as the Club Fed, is where convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell has asked to serve her 20-year federal sentence. In stark contrast to the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, where the 60-year-old spent nearly two years awaiting trial, FCI Danbury has a reputation as one of the most hospitable penitentiaries and has earned a special place in US pop culture. The best known is that the fantastic Litchfield prison in the successful Netflix Orange comedy the New Black comedy is based in part on FCI Danbury. Author Piper Kerman spent 13 months in prison in the mid-2000s after being convicted of money laundering and drug trafficking. Orange Is the New Black: My Year in a Women’s Prison memoirs were based on her experiences behind bars and later turned into an Emmy-winning TV series. Aerial view of FCI Danbury, where Ghislaine Maxwell wants to serve her 20-year sentence (Bing Maps) The six-time Grammy winner Lauryn Hill, 47, spent three months at FCI Danbury in 2013 for failing to pay a tax of about $ 1 million. On the day of her release, Ms. Hill released a new song entitled Consumerism. The R&B singer “wanted to make this music while she was in prison, as it is a product of the space she was in while going through some of the challenges she faced recently,” according to an advertisement in The Hour. Leona Helmsley, often referred to as the “Queen of Mean”, was convicted in 1989 of 33 counts of tax evasion, tax fraud and mail fraud and sentenced to four years in prison. (Maria Bastone / AFP / Getty) Mrs. Helmsley married hotel tycoon Harry Helmsley in 1972 and became synonymous with the “greed is good” mantra of the 1980s. According to a biography written by Santor Frankel’s former lawyer, he was heard to say: “We do not pay taxes, only small people pay taxes.” When Mrs. Helmsley died in 2007 at the age of 87, she left behind a fortune of $ 5 billion. The Connecticut facility also temporarily housed former Real Housewives of New Jersey star Teresa Giudice. Ms Giudice spent 11 months behind bars at FCI Danbury in 2015 after pleading guilty to bankruptcy and mail fraud in a plot with her husband, Joe Giudice. In an interview with Good Morning America after her release from prison, the reality star described her imprisonment as living in “hell”. Joe and Teresa Giudice leave court after facing charges of bankruptcy and mail fraud (Getty) “There was mold in the bathrooms. There was no running water all the time. The showers were icy. “Living conditions were really horrible,” he said. “There were some nights when we were not even hot; it was hell.” In addition to Orange Is the New Black, the prison has created a harsh setting for many other TV shows. In the popular Showtime Weeds series, the protagonist Nancy Botwin, played by Mary-Louise Parker, is serving a term at FCI Danbury. Danielle Brooks, Schilling, Vicky Jeudy and Samira Wiley at Orange is the New Black (Netflix) And in the legal drama Suits, Patrick Jay Adams character Mike Ross was sentenced to hard times in Danbury. Maxwell, 60, made more than 100 complaints about her treatment in prison during her stay at the Metropolitan Detention Center. She claimed that she shared her cell with rats and that she underwent regular examinations in the cavity and was abused by guards. She also claimed that her food was contaminated with worms. Justin Paperny, a federal prison expert, said Danbury would be like “Disneyland” compared to its MDC experience. “She was in this miserable, damp, cold, dirty detention center in Brooklyn, which has really put her under restraint,” Mr Paperny told the Times. “He has really endured the worst that prison can offer – in solitary confinement, the treatment of Covid and quarantine, and arguably the worst detention center in America. “People are surprised to hear that once he is convicted and arrives at the federal penitentiary, he will really feel like he is in Disneyland compared to where he is now.” The FCI Danbury, which opened in 1940, is located about 55 miles north of New York and became an exclusive women’s prison in 1993. The prison offers lessons for everything from group therapy programs for inmates with post-traumatic stress disorder to “hobby and music” lessons. Indigenous people can also take cycling and aerobics classes.
