'Despite Sensationalist Media Coverage, the Famous People at My Prison Aren't in Any Special Danger'

Date:  12-20-2022 Celebrities get a lot of attention on both sides of the wall. But ultimately, we are all the same: warehoused property.

From The Marshall Project: When I first heard that Josh Duggar was coming to FCI Seagoville, I didn’t know who he was. But there are other people here at this federal prison near Dallas who watch a lot of TV, and they all knew: Duggar is the oldest son from the reality show “19 Kids and Counting,” and he got arrested last year for having child porn. We occasionally get people that are high-profile at this facility, and Duggar’s case seems exactly like with other celebrities. Some people think they know you because you’ve been on TV, and everybody wants to talk to you. Like Christopher Epps — the former head of the Mississippi Department of Corrections — he’s in my unit. We call him Colonel. He’s a nice old dude. Thomas Rodella, who was a sheriff in New Mexico, was at this prison, too. We called him The Sheriff. They ended up here because the Bureau of Prisons sometimes sends media-sensitive people to facilities like this one, which is known as a SOMP yard — that stands for Sex Offender Management Program. They send them here whether or not they’re sex offenders. Only about 60% of the people here are in the program. Continue reading >>>