From music stars to billionaire hotel heirs, the Federal Correctional Institution in Danbury, Connecticut, was home to some of the most famous female prisoners in the history of the United States.
The low-security prison, sometimes referred to as Club Fed, is where convicted child sex trader Ghislaine Maxwell requested to serve her 20-year federal prison sentence.
In stark contrast to the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, where the 60-year-old has been awaiting trial for nearly two years, FCI Danbury has a reputation as one of the most hospitable prisons, earning a special place in American pop culture.
Most famously, the fictional Litchfield Prison in the hit Netflix comedy Orange is the new black is partly based on FCI Danbury.
Author Piper Kerman spent 13 months in prison in the mid-2000s following her conviction for money laundering and drug trafficking.
her memory Orange is the new black: my year in a women’s prison was based on her experiences behind bars and later turned into the Emmy-winning TV series.
Six-time Grammy winner Lauryn Hill, 47, spent three months at FCI Danbury in 2013 for failing to pay about $ 1 million in taxes.
On the day of her release from prison, Ms Hill released a new song called consumerism .
The R&B singer wanted to “get this music out while she’s in jail, as it’s a product of the space she’s been in while going through some of the challenges she’s faced recently,” according to a promotional release at the time.
Leona Helmsley, often referred to as the ‘Queen of the Mean’, was convicted in 1989 on 33 charges of tax evasion, tax fraud and postal fraud and sentenced to four years in prison.
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Ghislaine Maxwell. Photo: Rick Bajornas
Ms 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 her former lawyer Sandor Frankel, she was heard saying, “We do not pay taxes, only the little people pay taxes.”
When Ms Helmsley died in 2007 at the age of 87, she left an estate of $ 5 billion.
The Connecticut facility was also temporarily home to former the Real Housewives of New Jersey star Teresa Giudice.
Ms Giudice served 11 months behind bars at FCI Danbury in 2015 after pleading guilty to bankruptcy and postal fraud in a scheme with her husband, Joe Giudice.
In an interview with good morning america after her release, the reality TV star described her arrest as living in “hell”.
“There was mold in the bathrooms. There was no constant running water. The showers were freezing cold. “The living conditions were really awful,” she said.
“There were some nights we didn’t even have heat … it was hell.”
Outsideand from Orange is the new black, the prison provided a poignant backdrop for several other television programs.
In the popular Showtime series Weedpot trade protagonist Nancy Botwin, played by Mary-Louise Parker, serves a turn at FCI Danbury.
And in the legal drama Package, Patrick J. Adams’ character Mike Ross was sentenced to death at Danbury.
Maxwell, 60, has made more than 100 complaints about her treatment in prison during her time at the Metropolitan Detention Center.
She claimed that she shared her cell with rats and that she was subjected to regular cavity searches and was abused by guards. She also claimed that her food was contaminated with maggots.
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Grammy winner Lauryn Hill spent three months at FCI Danbury in 2013. Photo: Getty
Justin Paperny, an expert on federal prisons, said Danbury would be like “Disneyland” compared to her experience at the MDC.
“She was in this miserable, stuffy, cold, filthy detention center in Brooklyn that really conditioned her for detention,” Mr Paperny said. The times.
“She really suffered the worst of what the prison could offer – in solitary confinement, handling Covid and quarantine and probably the worst detention center in America.
“People are surprised to hear that once she’s sentenced and makes her way to the federal correctional facility, she’s actually going to feel like she’s in Disneyland compared to where she is now.”
Opened in 1940, FCI Danbury is located about 55 miles north of New York City and in 1993 became a dedicated female prison.
The prison offers classes on everything from group therapy programs for inmates with post-traumatic stress disorder to “hobby crafts and music” lessons.
Prisoners can also take circuit training and aerobics classes.