This is like something from that Traffic movie that Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta Jones starred in. It’s also giving me flashbacks to the awesome season of “Breaking Bad” that just finished. Michael Douglas’ son, Cameron, 32, from Douglas’ first marriage to Diandra Luker, is currently serving a five year sentence in federal prison on narcotics trafficking charges. He was basically shipping meth cross country and selling large quantities of it. (You can read more about his storied criminal history here.) Cameron’s sentence was apparently cut in half due to the fact that he testified against a Mexican drug dealer, who was convicted and sentenced to five years in prison as a result. Cameron is set to testify against yet another dealer later this month. Cameron could be put into protective custody in prison to protect him from retaliation, and there’s a real fear that Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta Jones could be targeted. Even if the Enquirer is just jumping to conclusions here, they’re probably right.

Michael’s son Cameron, 32, who is currently serving a five-year prison sentence on federal narcotics charges, was the government’s star witness in early October against one of his suppliers. The federal trial in Manhattan ended recently with a conviction.

Cameron, whose sentence was cut in half because of his cooperation, is set to return to the stand in late October for the trial of yet another dealer. Those close to his famous father fear the 67 year-old Oscar winner could be targeted by ruthless criminals in retaliation for Cameron’s testimony.

“Michael feels Cameron got what he deserves for possessing and dealing cocaine and crystal meth, but his pals are concerned that he will in the crosshairs of Cameron’s dealers,” a source who once worked for the family revealed. While Cameron may be placed in protective custody to prevent retaliation at the Lewisburg, PA prison where he’s serving his sentence, sources speculate that his family could be in grave danger.

“Since they are out in public, they could be hunted down,” maintained the source. “I think they’ll have to beef up security and hire bodyguards to keep an eye on them around the clock.”

[From The National Enquirer, print edition, October 24, 2011]

The first dealer Cameron testified against was an illegal Mexican immigrant, hence the connection to the Mexican drug cartel. The source says “These are bad dudes with a lot of money and guns at their disposal. They will stop at nothing to seek revenge.” That’s scary as hell! Micheal and Catherine have dealt with creepy homicidal stalkers, they’ve dealt with mean ass taunting paparazzi, but they’ve never had to deal with drug dealers out for revenge. I hope they get some really good security.

Here’s Michael Douglas playing golf in Scotland and eating a hot dog on 9/29/11. I love those pics so much. Michael and Catherine are shown at the US Open on 9/10/11. Credit: WENN and Fame

Lil Wayne is currently serving a year’s sentence in Riker’s Island after pleading guilty to weapons possession in New York earlier this year. He’s been in prison for about seven months and was originally expected to get out on good behavior after eight months. It looks like Wayne could be behind bars for a little longer than expected, as he was caught by staff with a contraband mp3 charger and headphones, something that is off limits to prisoners. He is allowed to listen to the radio, though, and also passes the time exercising, playing UNO, reading and answering fan mail. He’s been sent to solitary confinement as a result of the mp3 player, which was found with another inmate in a routine search. Wayne had the accessories for the player, and he tried to hide them by putting them inside a potato chip bag in the trash.

Lil’ Wayne has been tossed in Rikers Island’s version of solitary confinement after he was found to have a pair of headphones and an MP3 charger in his cell.

Weezy will be in punitive segregation, but he was already in a private cell. The difference is … now he will have less interaction with inmates and will spend up to 23 hours a day in an isolation cell.

His out-of-cell time is now restricted to visits, religious services and one hour of recreational time and his phone privileges are reduced to one personal phone call a week.

Wayne was found with a pair of headphones and a charger for an MP3 player and another inmate was said to be hiding the MP3 player.

Wayne has been locked up since March on a gun possession charge.

[From TMZ]

As Fox News points out, Wayne told Rolling Stone ahead of his prison sentence that he would have an mp3 player in jail. He said “I’ll have an iPod, and I’ll make sure they keep sending me beats.” This player wasn’t an iPod, but it was still off limits. It will now make his remaining sentence that much more difficult.

Lil Wayne has a website updated by letters he sends from Rikers. He’s very grateful to his fans for their support and mentions many people by name. He hasn’t yet addressed this issue over the mp3 player as it’s sure to take time for him to write letters and get them posted online. He’s staying positive and seems to be taking his sentence in stride. He writes:

During my prison stint, I want my fans to know I love you. I want all of you to know that I appreciate all the mail I get, and this is my way of saying thank you. The F is for Family, Friends, and Fans.

Love. Live. Life. Proceed. Progress. That’s who I am and who I’ll always be. You see, we’re all living on borrowed time, so I’m not worried about this situation. Life happens quick. The more time you spend contemplating what you should have done…you lose valuable time planning what you can and will do. Trying to tear down the past prohibits you from building up your future. So for my time here, my physical will be confined to the yard. My love and my spirit, however, know no boundaries.

[From WeezyThanxYou.com]

That’s really nice and I hope he hangs in there. From what I’ve seen of the guy in interviews, he seems like a decent person who is genuinely grateful to his fans. I was honestly surprised by what a decent guy he comes across as. Yes he never should have had an unlicensed gun but I don’t get how he got a year in Rikers for that charge when other celebrities had multiple DUIs with passengers in the car and got off with probation.

Michael Douglas oldest son, Cameron, 31, was sentenced in Manhattan yesterday to five years in prison after pleading guilty to conspiracy to distribute drugs and heroin possession. Cameron is the only child of Douglas and his first wife, Diandra Luker, who he was with from 1977-2000 before he married Catherine Zeta-Jones. Last July, Cameron was busted selling about a pound and a half of methamphetamine, valued at $18,000, to an undercover DEA agent at a NY hotel. The bust was part of a sting operation and it came out that Cameron was also selling drugs through the mail and shipping them cross country, which is a federal offense.

Cameron has been in federal prison since last August, having screwed himself out of house arrest at a posh upper east side townhouse when his girlfriend was busted trying to slip him heroin in the battery chamber of an electric toothbrush.

Cameron’s dad, his step mom Catherine Zeta-Jones, and his famous grandfather, Kirk Douglas, all wrote letters to the judge pleading for leniency. There were 37 letters of support for Cameron in total. It may have worked. Earlier reports had Cameron facing a minimum ten year sentence, but he was reportedly cooperative and somehow able to get a lesser sentence.

A judge sentenced Michael Douglas’ son to five years in prison Tuesday for dealing methamphetamine from a trendy Manhattan hotel, calling it his “last chance to make it.”

U.S. District Judge Richard M. Berman announced the sentence after hearing 31-year-old Cameron Douglas ask for mercy as his Academy Award-winning father and mother, Diandra, listened behind him in a packed courtroom.

“I’d like to apologize to my family and my loved ones for putting them through this nightmare of my making,” Douglas said.

The Hollywood scion and admitted heroin addict also was ordered to forfeit $300,000. A pre-sentence report listed his net worth as $500,000.

As they left federal court in Manhattan, Michael Douglas and his ex-wife had to fight through a writhing mass of photographers to reach a waiting SUV.

Federal agents arrested Douglas last summer at the Hotel Gansevoort in Manhattan’s Meatpacking District. Prosecutors alleged that he was the middleman in a scheme to smuggle large amounts of meth from California to New York, sometimes using overnight mail.

Early in a sentencing hearing that stretched more than an hour, the judge described how Douglas had abused drugs since age 13 and noted that he had been sober in prison since last August, his longest drug-free stint since his teenage years.

He noted that he had read at least 37 letters of support from family – including his film legend grandfather, Kirk, stepmother Catherine Zeta-Jones and NBA executive Pat Riley – friends and supporters who “believe he has finally bottomed out in terms of his addiction and may be ready to turn his life around.”

But Berman also expressed doubt Douglas would turn his back on drugs after pleading guilty in January to conspiracy to distribute drugs.

“In my estimation, that will be a very difficult chore,” he said. “I think this case and this sentencing may well be his last chance to make it.”

The conspiracy charge carried a mandatory 10 years in prison, but the judge said the government had agreed that Douglas qualified for a lesser sentence. It had been revealed at a pretrial hearing that Douglas had tried to cooperate.

The defense had requested that Douglas be sentenced to time served or, at most, 3 1/2 years in prison.

When given a chance to speak, Douglas said he was blind to the opportunities to overcome his addiction earlier in life.

“As a result, I squandered a lot of them,” he said. “If I should be so fortunate as to have another chance, I will never squander that opportunity.”

[From The Huffington Post]

So Cameron was facing a minimum ten years in prison and he only got five. Five years sounds pretty light for shipping meth across country and getting busted using drugs while on house arrest. He probably got off much easier due to his famous family and high paid attorneys, but Cameron will still have to do hard time. I don’t feel for this kid. He’ll get out of prison and have a huge support system and plenty of money to fall back on, unlike most convicted felons. For some people, all the opportunities in the world don’t make a difference until it’s almost too late.

Lane Garrison is the former Prison Break star who spent 11 months in prison after a teen passenger in his car died from a December, 2006 accident Lane had while driving drunk. Lane, 27, had just met the boy that night, along with two other teen passengers in the car, both of whom were injured in the crash. They were leaving a high school party to go out to buy more alcohol when Lane’s SUV jumped a curb and hit a tree, killing Vahagn Setian, 17. Lane was sentenced to 40 months in prison and he was released last April after serving a little over half of his sentence.

Now Lane is telling In Touch about what he went through in prison, including three weeks in solitary confinement. It sounds hellish, but Lane killed a young kid. He should know when to keep his damn mouth shut. Maybe taken in context with the rest of the article it’s not as bad as it sounds, because he does say “I will never forget what I did,” and it’s possible he admits that he had it coming.

“I was in solitary confinement for three weeks in a 104-degree cell infested with rats and roaches,” Lane tells In Touch exclusively.

After overcoming a tough childhood to pursue a promising acting career, Lane Garrison landed his first big role on the hit show Prison Break and was living the Hollywood dream. Then in one night, everything came crashing down. On December 2, 2006, after drinking too much at a party, he got behind the wheel of his car and hit a tree, killing one of his three passengers. “I will never forget what I did,” Lane tells In Touch in an exclusive interview. Although Lane only ended up serving 22 months behind bars, he endured the horrors of eight different prisons, starting with an LA county jail, where he was strip-searched and chained to a metal chair before being tossed into an area called “the snake pit.” “That was one of the roughest places. You’re in survival mode from sunup to sundown,” Lane says. He insists he was never physically assaulted — but the mental torture was traumatic for Lane. “In Chino prison in Northern California, I was in solitary confinement for three weeks in a 104-degree cell infested with rats and roaches,” he recalls. “The only time I had contact with the outside world was when I got my meals through a slot. I didn’t do anything to warrant solitary, but that’s just where they put me.”

For more of Lane’s exclusive interview, check out this week’s issue of In Touch, on newsstands tomorrow.

[From In Touch Weekly, received via e-mail]

I followed this case closely and I truly believe that Garrison was incredibly distraught and genuinely remorseful for what he did. He issued a tearful statement in court, he recorded a public service announcement admitting what he’d done, and he wrote a letter to the judge that was both heartfelt and really sad. I believe the guy will be affected by what he did for the rest of his life. His sister wrote a note, too, detailing their horrific childhood. None of that excuses what he did or gives him a pass to bitch and moan about jail, though. I know it was probably awful for him, but again he got out of there and now he’s free and alive. If he’s trying to earn some work by talking about what he went through it could backfire. As I said we’ll see, though, and it’s possible that In Touch is just excerpting the sensational part and that Garrison apologizes up and down in the rest of the interview. According to IMDB he has one film in development, which is the only listing for him since 2007.

Update: I read the full In Touch piece in and in the print article, Lane is much more contrite and makes several pretty grave statements both about what he did and how he understands that he deserved to go to jail. At the beginning Lane says “I will never forget what I did. I go to bed and wake up thinking of the pain I’ve caused.” After talking about some of his prison experiences, he sums up with “It’s prison. It’s supposed to be bad. I caused this by choosing to drink and drive. If talking about what happened to me prevents one person from drinking and driving, then this whole tragedy wouldn’t have been in vain.”

Lil Wayne will be spending at least a year in prison, thanks to a plea bargain made with the New York City District Attorney today. Wayne was being charged with criminal weapon possession and criminal possession of a loaded weapon (you read that right, possessing a weapon is one charge, if it’s loaded that’s an additional charge). In July of 2007 police searched Lil Wayne’s tour bus and found a loaded .40-caliber pistol. He could have spent up to fifteen years in prison if he’d been found guilty of the two original charges, but instead pled guilty to a lesser charge of attempted weapons possession.

Lil Wayne’s heading to the big house. The “Hot Revolver” rapper struck a deal with Manhattan prosecutors and pleaded guilty today to attempted weapons possession in exchange for a one-year prison sentence, a spokeswoman for the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office confirmed to E! News. The 27-year-old Grammy winner, aka Dwayne Carter III, appeared before Manhattan Criminal Court Judge Charles Solomon and copped to a felony count of attempted criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree. Hizzoner allowed the New Orleans MC to remain free on his current $30,000 bond but ordered him to surrender his passport.

No comment yet from Team Wayne. (Maybe he can ring up incarcerated pal T.I. and ask for some pointers?) Still, Weezy should consider himself lucky, given he could have gotten a much longer sentence if convicted on the original, more serious gun charges. Lil Wayne got into this mess on July 22, 2007 when police searched his tour bus following a concert at the Beacon Theater in New York City and found a loaded .40-caliber pistol. He was initially booked on one count of criminal weapons possession and one count of criminal possession of a loaded weapon, charges carrying a minimum of three and a half years and a maximum of 15.

The Grammy winner’s plea bargain came a day after a hearing on DNA evidence in the case in which his attorney, Stacey Richman, argued that investigators’ profiling technique wasn’t widely accepted in the scientific community and that the gun in question didn’t belong to her client but someone else on the bus. Lil Wayne’s trial was set to kick off Jan. 20. Solomon has now scheduled the next hearing for Dec. 15, at which point the case will be adjourned until February for sentencing.

[From E! News]

Lil Wayne’s been a busy guy between the July 2007 incident and his plea bargain. He’s expecting his third child of this year. Yeah when I said he was busy I really meant it. This’ll be his fourth child in all, each by four different women.

Despite the gun possessing and random baby having, Lil Wayne actually comes across as a pretty decent guy. His own father was never around growing up and it seems to really have affected him. One would think he’s more involved in his own kids’ lives. He talks a lot about working hard to make something of himself, and it’s logical to believe that ethic applies to his parenting as well. It’s obviously going to be hard to be in prison for a year, and that’s important time he won’t have with his kids. It’s better than 15 years though. I’m not usually particularly empathic towards this sort of thing, but I can’t help but feel badly for the guy.

Here’s Lil Wayne performing live on stage at the Molson Amphitheatre in Toronto on August 4th. Images thanks to WENN.com .

I am shocked to report that Roman Polanski does not like prison. He is seriously not a fan. While most people appreciate some time to themselves to relax and catch up on their pleasure reading (that’s what you do in prison, right?) Polanski just doesn’t know how to make the best of it. According to his lawyer, he’s really bummed out. The term he used was “depressed,” but I think “bummed out and wallowing in self-pity” more accurately sums up the situation. His attorney tries to phrase it like the situation is dire and Polanski is all old and fragile – mentioning his age when it’s totally irrelevant. They’re pushing to get him released on bail while he’s waiting for his extradition hearing. Unfortunately when you’ve skipped town before, officials are unlikely to give you the opportunity to do it again, even if it was 30 years ago.

Two weeks after being arrested in Switzerland to face extradition to the United States, Roman Polanksi is languishing behind bars.

“I found him to be tired and depressed,” his lawyer, Herve Temime, told a Sontag newspaper, Reuters reports.

“Roman Polanski, who is 76, seemed very dejected when I visited him,” Temime explained to another paper.

“Polanski was in an unsettled state of mind,” his lawyer added. Polanksi had fled America in 1977, after pleading guilty to charges he raped a 13-year-old girl. The Oscar-winning director left the States because he feared a judge would reject a the plea bargain he had made and send him to prison for 50 years.

Officials in Switzerland are holding Polanksi in jail, believing him to be a flight risk. But Temime claimed they should decide “very soon” on whether to grant him bail.

“He would fulfill all the conditions and stay in Switzerland until the extradition proceeding are decided,” Temime said.

[From PopEater]

I’m having such a hard time not making any jokes about the world’s tiniest violin. Which I just happen to have right next to me, and have been playing with my pinkie finger. Poor Roman Polanski. All alone in a Swiss jail. You know what they do to the prisoners there, right? They give them Hershey’s chocolate instead of Swiss. Rough going, I’m sure. The thing is, whatever Polanski’s got going on in a Swiss jail, it’s going to be soooooo much worse in the U.S. Assuming he goes to prison, which he may not. But he’s got to know that, which is why I’m disinclined to believe he’d really show up for his extradition hearing. As has been pointed out before, it’s relatively easy to get across the borders in Europe, simply because many of them are easily accessible via a nice car ride.

Polanski might want to consider some Zoloft. It can take up to six weeks to kick in, so he might want to get a head start for his trip back to the states.

Here’s Roman Polanski with Czech President Vaclav Klaus at the 39th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival in July 2004. Images thanks to WENN.com .

Chris finally received his formal sentencing late Tuesday afternoon for his guilty plea in his February felony assault on Rihanna. As per his plea deal, Chris will not be serving a jail sentence. His formal sentencing includes: 1,400 hours (six months) of community service, a year of domestic violence classes, fines, and fives years of probation in which he can have no contact with Rihanna, including phone and e-mail contact. The last time Chris was supposed to be sentenced (earlier this month) he had a tentative deal to give another public apology, this time on Larry King Live. There was no such deal this time.

Chris Brown will spend 1,400 hours removing graffiti and washing cars for assaulting Rihanna.

Brown, 20, was formally sentenced in a Los Angeles courtroom Tuesday to six months of community labor in Virginia after he pleaded guilty in June to one count of felony assault against Rihanna, 21.

Brown’s six-month labor sentence will be supervised by the chief of police in Richmond, Va., who wrote to the judge that Brown would perform graffiti removal, cleaning and maintaining grounds, and washing cars.

The singer, who looked solemn and wore a black pinstripe suit and matching tie, was also sentenced to five years of probation, a year of domestic violence classes, and was ordered to pay fines. He was accompanied in the courtroom by his mother and at least one bodyguard.

As part of his plea bargain with prosecutors, a second felony charge of making criminal threats was dropped. Rihanna was not present for the hearing.

Donald Etra, an attorney for the “Umbrella” singer, had previously asked the judge for lesser restrictions on communication and contact between the two singers.

However, L.A. Superior Court Judge Patricia Schnegg ordered Brown not to have any communication with Rihanna for the next five years, which includes phone and email contact. Brown was also ordered not to come within 100 yards of Rihanna – 10 yards if they’re both at the same event.

Toward the end of the hearing, Judge Schnegg warned Brown, in an apparent reference to reports that the two singers may have had contact against court order: “I’m not immune to any chatter on the airwaves. Do you understand, Mr. Brown, that any violation of this order is a violation of your probation and it comes with the possible penalty of prison?” Brown responded “Yes.”

Last month, Brown publicly apologized for the incident, saying, “I have told Rihanna countless times, and I am telling you today, that I am truly sorry and that I wasn’t able to handle the situation both differently and better.”

[From People]

I’m sure there will be some people who still debate what happened that night between Chris and Rihanna, and whether Chris is truly sorry. Personally, I wish he had gotten jail time, but I think the fact that Rihanna, as the victim, spoke out publicly and privately to the Los Angeles police and district attorney’s office was what saved him from doing time. Six months of community service is nothing to scoff at, and if Chris doesn’t comply to the very letter and spirit of his sentence, perhaps he will end up in jail.

Corporate trainer Richard Hatch won the first season of Survivor in 2000. He was known for being sneaky on the show and cutting deals with people and often went completely naked, requiring many scenes to be blurred in pertinent places. The guy was determined to win Survivor, and he did, but he also never paid taxes on his $1 million earnings, something he claimed that CBS executives assured him was taken care of. There was also the matter of failing to report an additional $312,000 in separate earnings. Hatch was sentenced on federal tax evasion charges in 2006, after refusing to take a plea bargain that would have kept him out of prison.

Hatch is out of prison after serving three and a half years, 42 months, on a 51 month sentence. He’s now under house arrest at his sister’s place in Newport, Rhode Island – at least he was until yesterday, when he was hauled back to federal prison for some reason that the feds won’t specify. Apparently he broke the terms of his home confinement somehow. Before going back to prison, though, Hatch granted an interview to The Today Show in which he blamed everyone else for his conviction and jail term, including the prosecutor and the judge, saying he wouldn’t have received such a harsh sentence if he wasn’t gay.

Mere hours after he sat down for an exclusive interview with TODAY’s Matt Lauer, America’s first broadcast-TV reality show star Richard Hatch found himself back behind bars as a federal prisoner.

Hatch was arrested Tuesday afternoon at his sister’s home in Newport, R.I., where he has been living under house arrest after spending nearly four years in prison for tax evasion. Late Tuesday, authorities would not disclose the reason for Hatch’s arrest…

Before being taken back into custody, Richard Hatch had to get permission a week in advance to leave his sister’s property for any reason.

During his interview with Lauer on Tuesday morning, Hatch insisted he is innocent of the tax-evasion charges that put him in behind bars in the first place. He has maintained that CBS, which produced and aired the first “Survivor” series that starred Hatch in 2000, promised to pay the taxes on the $1 million he won on the show.

“I know without question that there are personal issues involved for the prosecutor. I don’t know why. The prosecutorial misconduct has been egregious,” Hatch told Lauer. “He told the court I didn’t pay my taxes in 2000, and he told the court I haven’t been cooperative. The IRS specifically contradicts that. I don’t have a bill for 2000. I haven’t even been assessed for 2000. And I’ve been fully cooperative.”

He insisted he will pay whatever taxes he owes when he gets a bill from the IRS.

“Whatever they assess, I’m going to pay. Whatever is owed, I will pay,” Hatch told Lauer. “I’ve to this day never had an assessment. There were other issues on those tax returns, as there would be on any American’s return, that people would question.”

In Tuesday’s interview, Hatch said he believed he had been made a victim because of his open homosexuality. Former U.S. Attorney Robert Clark Corrente, whose office oversaw Hatch’s case, told WPRO-AM that Hatch is “delusional.”

Before his arrest on Tuesday afternoon, Hatch, 48, had been scheduled to be released from house arrest on Oct. 7. He told Lauer that he is “financially devastated” after paying lawyers and being imprisoned for nearly four years.

[From Today.MSNBC.com]

Maybe this guy is right that he was mistreated in some way, but he’s so arrogant and cocky that it’s hard to believe him at all. A lot of people get screwed by government agencies and it’s possible he wasn’t given the chance to make amends before they threw the book at him. He should have filed his taxes – period. I can buy his claim that CBS told him that the taxes were taken care of before they gave him the money. There was another $321k, though, and Matt Lauer also mentioned a car that Hatch won and never paid taxes on. I think Hatch just believed he was above the law and now he’s refusing to admit that he was in the wrong. How convenient for him to claim that he would have been able to avoid jail time if he was straight. His conviction probably had everything to do with his illegal behavior and entitled attitude, not his orientation.

Lane Garrison is set to be released from prison on April 29. Garrison is a former star of Prison Break who was convicted of vehicular manslaughter for a drunken car crash in which he killed a 17 year-old passenger and injured two others. On the night of the accident in December, 2006, Garrison met two 15 year-old girls at a grocery store and either offered to buy them alcohol or was asked to buy the booze depending on whose account you believe. He then went to a party with the teens, where he did shots of vodka. The two girls and 17 year-old Vahagn Setian went out with Garrison in his SUV to buy more alcohol, which is when the car jumped a curb and hit a tree, killing Setian and injuring the two other passengers.

Garrison received 40 months for a guilty plea to felony vehicular manslaughter and driving under the influence, and if he gets out at the end of this month he’ll have served just over half that time. He started his sentence at the very end of October, 2007 and received credit for three months served, which would mean that he served only 21 months out of 40 months sentence.

Garrison is an old friend of Jessica Simpon. He lived with her family for a year when he was just 17 and his accident is said to have hit the singer hard. She’s sending a car to pick him up when he’s released:

Lane Garrison isn’t making a break for it — he’s being released! The former actor from the Fox hit drama Prison Break just got his walking papers and will become a free man on April 29. In a high-class homecoming, Lane’s childhood friend Jessica Simpson has arranged for his ride. “Jessica wanted to pick Lane up herself, but she can’t,” her pal explains. “So she hired a limo for a few friends to be there once Lane walks out.” The singer hasn’t visited her pal at the Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility in San Diego due to security risks, but Jessica and Lane have been in contact since he began his sentence in October 2007. The actor was locked up for a December 2006 DUI that resulted in the death of a 17-year-old passenger.

[From In Touch]

I followed this story closely at the time, and it’s just sad all around. Garrison did give a very distraught and heartfelt apology to the victims’ families and to the court and even recorded a tearful public service message warning of the dangers of drunken driving. He said he made a “horrible, inexcusable mistake” and that he was “extremely remorseful and grieving.” The victim’s family was understandably unimpressed, and pointed out that he’s an actor and that his carelessness killed their young son. Garrison’s sister issued a letter to the court in which she described a horrific childhood in which their father was drunk and abusive and their mother was usually hospitalized. Both of their parents are now deceased.

As for his experience in jail, Garrison said last year that “I have much to say about the pain I’ve felt and seen inside of prison. It has been eye-opening and a harrowing experience.” Unfortunately that experience didn’t last for much more than half of the time he was supposed to serve, especially considering that Garrison killed someone and could have received over six years for the crime.

Earlier this week Garrison reached undisclosed financial settlements with the parents of Vahagn Setian, the boy he killed, and surviving victim Michelle Ohana, who spent two months in a wheelchair after the accident. She was asking for $25,000 for the cost of healthcare. It is unknown how much the Setian’s received.

Lane Garrison is shown outside court on 3/8/07. Credit: Fame Pictures

The National Enquirer has an interview with a woman who claims she was friends with Martha Stewart in prison, but has since been ignored by the millionaire homemaker after multiple attempts to contact her. Martha Guarino was in Alderson Federal Prison Camp serving time for cocaine possession when she befriended Martha Stewart. Guarino says she protected a clueless Stewart from beat downs and serious threats from other inmates and that in turn Stewart promised to help her find the best doctor to treat her breast cancer. Guarino is upset that Stewart didn’t keep in touch with her after she got out of prison, though, and says she broke her promise to provide help and assistance.

The best part of the interview is this anecdote Guarino recounts about how Stewart learned the hard way to mind her business in the slammer:

Mother-of-three Lisa was already serving time after being sentenced to 40 months for cocaine possession.

“We both found each other taking the same walks each day,” Lisa told The Enquirer at her home in Boston.

The two became friendly, says Lisa, after she loaned Martha some blush. Soon the two began working out nightly together at the prison’s recreation center.

Lisa, who remains on probation and is battling cancer, told The Enquirer: “Martha and I would do crunches at night. I would count in English and Martha in French.”

One visit to the recreation center nearly ended in tragedy when strong-willed Martha shot her mouth off, revealed Lisa.

“We were going to the usual room we used and the lights were off, which was odd. Then I looked through the window and I could make out some lesbians having sex.

“I warned Martha not to go in there, but she said it was our time to exercise, swung open the door, turned on the light and said ‘Chop! Chop! Ladies.’

“There were about four lesbian couples in there, most of them semi-clothed and all of them had clearly been fooling around.

“Most of the women were more masculine-looking than boxers, and as they came out of the room, one of them said she was going to kill Martha!

“I pushed Martha into the room and she began panicking when she realized they were serious. She went white and began shaking. ‘Don’t let them hurt me,’ she said.

“I went back out and spoke to the women. The angriest said ‘That b- is dead! I am going to kill her. She may be somebody outside, but she’s just a number in here!”

As the tension mounted, Lisa did some quick thinking.

“I said Martha wasn’t right in the head and she wasn’t with the program yet. Then I got Martha to come out of the room and apologize t the women. It seemed to work.”

[From The National Enquirer, print edition, January 19, 2008]

Martha was grateful for the help, and for another incident in which Lisa convinced an inmate who had it out for Martha not to hurt her. In turn she told Lisa that she would help her with breast cancer treatment once she was released. Stewart’s promises ultimately were hollow, though:

After Lisa’s release, the mother of three says she sent letters to Martha at her Connecticut home. “Martha had given me a telephone number for her assistant, but the number came up dead. And no one replied to the letters I sent. I did get one thing from her – a signed photograph.

“I am sorry if Martha wants to wash her hands of me because I may bring up memories of a bad time. I have nothing but respect for her, but I am in a terrible way now because of my health.

“The cancer has not been reduced, and I may well have a double mastectomy in the coming weeks. I just wanted Martha to know.”

[From The National Enquirer, print edition, January 19, 2008]

This could all be fabricated by this woman, and who knows how much of it is true or if Martha really told her this. You don’t know what really happened and maybe Martha thinks it’s best that she keep her distance or worries that people are trying to take advantage of her. It’s sad for Lisa that she’s dealing with breast cancer though and maybe the cash from the National Enquirer will help pay for her expenses.

Martha Stewart is shown on 11/20/08 at a benefit. Credit: WENN