Former “Full House” star Lori Loughlin has not spoken publicly about the two months she spent in the federal women’s prison in Dublin. Neither has “Desperate Housewives” actor Felicity Huffman.
So, it’s not known if either TV star, convicted for their roles in the Varsity Blues college admissions scandal, was aware of the rampant sexual abuse inflicted on other female prisoners, allegedly by predatory employees, while the actresses were at the Federal Correctional Institution in 2019 and 2020. The Associated Press reported that sexual assault at the prison, its reputed “rape club” and its “toxic culture” persisted for years, a scandal that led to the convictions of several officials and to the prison being closed temporarily in April.
Now, with federal officials announcing Tuesday that the prison would close for good, it’s possible that some of its famous former inmates would say “good riddance.”
In addition to Loughlin and Huffman, the prison has been home over the years to some of America’s most famous female prisoners. Soon after it opened in 1974, its college campus-like setting gave it a reputation as a “Club Fed,” a seemingly cushy, carceral facility suited to low-risk federal offenders and white-collar criminals. At one point in the 1980s and early ’90s, the prison housed male prisoners as well, including such notorious male offenders as “Junk Bond King” Michael Milken and ex-Los Angeles police officers Stacey Koon and Laurence Powell, convicted of violating the civil rights of motorist Rodney King.
Perhaps its most famous inmate ever was Patty Hearst, the Symbionese Liberation Army hostage-turned-domestic terrorist and convicted bank robber. Hearst, the granddaughter of early 20th century media mogul William Randolph Hearst, was incarcerated for 21 months in Dublin until her sentence was commuted by President Jimmy Carter. She received a full pardon in 2001 by outgoing President Bill Clinton.
In the 1970s, the Dublin prison also was home to former Manson family member Lynette Squeaky Fromme, after she received a life sentence for trying to assassinate President Gerald Ford in Sacramento on Sept. 5, 1975. She was moved to another federal prison in 1979 after attacking another inmate with a hammer.
Another would-be Ford assassin, former Danville housewife Sara Jane Moore, also ended up in the Dublin prison, after she tried to kill the president in San Francisco, 17 days after Fromme’s attempt. Moore likewise received a life sentence. The prison was Moore’s home for 32 years, until she was released on parole in 2007.
Now 94, she lives in Tennessee and gave an interview in July, after President-elect Donald Trump survived a gunman’s assassination attempt while speaking at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. In her interview with the Nashville Banner, Moore said “yes and no” to a question about whether news coverage about the attempt on Trump’s life was a painful reminder of the event that led to her long imprisonment.
“You know, I’ve done a lot of things, and I’ve traveled all over the world, and I have more control of my emotions and more control of things than I used to,” she said. “And as you get older and see things, they don’t shock you as much as they should, because you’ve seen too much.”
In the mid-1990s, “Hollywood Madam” Heidi Fleiss spent 20 months at the prison after being convicted of money laundering and tax evasion. Fast forward to October 2019, when Huffman surrendered to serve a 14-day sentence for her role in the college admissions scandal.
The Emmy winner and Oscar nominee was among three dozen wealthy parents across the country who paid a corrupt college consultant tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars to get their children fraudulently admitted to top schools by inflating test scores or fabricating athletic accomplishments.
Huffman pleaded guilty to her crimes and apologized, receiving a 14-day sentence, which stirred up a debate about whether the criminal justice system treats affluent, white-collar defendants with more leniency than poor people of color.
Just four days after her surrender, photos were taken of her in the prison’s minimum-security satellite camp, showing her enjoying a family visit with her husband, actor William H. Macy, and her daughter. She scored an early release after 11 days, likely because her scheduled release date fell on a weekend, and the prison’s policy is to release prisoners the Friday before, reports said.
Loughlin’s two-month prison stint would have been considerably more challenging than Huffman’s. Loughlin began her sentence during the COVID-19 pandemic, surrendering in November 2020. At the time, new prisoners had to spend 14 days in quarantine, likely in the Special Housing Unit, which is typically associated with disciplinary or safety issues, Holli Coulman, a former federal inmate and prison consultant, said in a 2020 interview with the Bay Area News Group.
In quarantine, Loughlin wouldn’t have been able to leave her cell or unit, and meals would have been delivered in brown bags, Coulman said.
Being in quarantine is “not pleasant,” Coulman said. “There is nothing for her to do. I believe they have reading material but other than that, it’s a really long day and night for her.”
With the pandemic underway, Loughlin also may not have been able to enjoy visits from her family, including her influencer daughters Olivia Jade and Isabella Giannulli, Coulman said. But the actor once known for her wholesome public persona served her two months, only just missing the Christmas holiday by a couple of days.
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