From Martha Stewart to Diddy: Inside Celebrities' Lives Behind Bars

Celebrities may get the VIP treatment most places they go, but there’s one place where that’s the exception: prison.  

While “badly behaved” stars often make headlines, there are actually quite a few who have been apprehended for crimes serious enough to land them behind bars. Beyond famous faces like Khloé Kardashian and Nicole Richie, who’ve only gotten a small taste of what being locked up is truly like, there are a handful of stars who have done serious time. 

When celebrities are incarcerated, there’s no rulebook for how to handle fame inside the facility. They’re meant to be treated as equal to their fellow inmates, but there are certain prisons more equipped for high-profile criminals given the attention that tends to swirl. That usually includes minimum-security facilities that house low-risk detainees and nonviolent offenders. These facilities are considered work- and program-oriented and where inmates live in a dormitory-style setting. There’s typically access to amenities like a library and recreation areas as well as communication to the outside world through email. 

Federal Prison Camp (FPC), Alderson in West Virginia is one of several facilities that has housed famous female inmates and even earned the nickname “Camp Cupcake” after Martha Stewart’s five-month stint there. The now-shuttered Federal Correctional Institution (FCI), Dublin in California also held well-known prisoners before its closure, including Felicity Huffman (who was incarcerated for conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud) and Patty Hearst (convicted for bank robbery). FPC Bryan in Texas is currently home to Ghislaine Maxwell, who is serving time for child sex trafficking and conspiracy, and Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes, who is there on fraud charges. Real Housewives of Salt Lake City star Jen Shah also served time there for fraud but was released in December 2025 after two and a half years. 

Meanwhile, high-profile male prisoners are often held at FCI Otisville in New York, where Fyre Festival founder (and another convicted fraudster) Billy McFarland and Jersey Shore's Mike “The Situation” Sorrentino (incarcerated for tax evasion) did time, or FPC Pensacola, where Todd Chrisley of Chrisley Knows Best served. FCI Fort Dix has also held famous inmates like Real Housewives of New Jersey cast member Joe Giudice, who was there for some of his time incarcerated on fraud charges. Most recently, Diddy was transferred to the same prison and is expected to serve the rest of his 50-month sentence there for two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution.

On the rare occasion a celebrity has been convicted of a violent crime like murder, certain medium- to high-security prisons are chosen. Depending on their convictions and health status, inmates may be housed at Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center, where NFL player Aaron Hernandez served time, or the California Substance Abuse Treatment Facility and State Prison, where music producer Phil Spector was incarcerated before his death. Both had been convicted of murder.

Despite their fame, celebrities are treated just like everyone else behind bars. According to former Metropolitan Detention Center, Brooklyn Warden DeWayne Hendrix, “public persona means nothing behind the fence,” and while prisons that house high-profile individuals may not be a “violent environment,” life is “far from easy.”

Even Stewart’s time in a prison that was once described as “cushy” by Forbes was not a pleasant experience. In fact, the television personality, who was imprisoned for lying about the sale of a stock, called the experience “horrifying.”

“No one, no one, should have to go through that kind of indignity, really, except for murderers, and there are a few other categories. But no one should have to go through that. It’s a very, very awful thing,” Stewart said on Next Question with Katie Couric in 2017. 

She continued, “There are lots and lots of disturbing things that go on in an incarceration like that. In minimum security you still couldn’t walk out the gate or cross the river. There’s still guards, and it’s still nasty.”

Real Housewives of New Jersey star Teresa Giudice, who spent time at FCI Danbury on fraud charges, echoed Stewart’s prison sentiments years later. She described the period as “living in hell” and says she worked for just 12 cents an hour in the kitchen.

“I mean, there was mold in the bathrooms. There was not running water constantly. The showers were freezing cold … I mean, the living conditions were really horrible. Like, horrible,” she alleged during a Good Morning America appearance. “There were some nights that we didn't even have heat … It was hell.”

Chrisley confirmed there was no preferential treatment while he was locked up; in fact he experienced the opposite. During his time in prison, where he was incarcerated on charges of conspiracy to commit bank fraud, wire fraud and tax evasion, he claimed FPC Pensacola was “disgustingly filthy” and the food was inedible.  Although he attempted to buy a majority of his food from the commissary, Chrisley alleged a staff member limited the number of purchases he could make.

“The food is literally, I’m not exaggerating—the food is dated, and it’s out of date by, at minimum, a year,” Chrisley claimed on Chris Cuomo’s NewsNation show, Cuomo. “I’ve been told this by a staff member—one of the ways she’s trying to break me is by cutting down what you can buy in commissary. So, before she came [there], you could buy 12 packs of tuna a week. She cut it down to six, and from six it went to three. She had not given a reason—when I asked her about it, she said commissary is a privilege, not a right.”

Celebrities are generally safe in prison as long as they abide by the facilities’ rules and regulations. When Robert Downey Jr. was sent to the California Substance Abuse Treatment Facility and State Prison on drug charges in 1999, he called it the “safest place on Earth.”

“When the door clicks shut, then you are safe," Downey told Rolling Stone. "There is nothing aside from a rogue correctional officer that can do you harm if you have the right cellie. You are actually in the safest place on Earth. Safe from the intruders. From anything that might thwart the mortal coil.”

However, high-profile prisoners do at times attract some unwanted extra attention. When Sean Penn was behind bars at Mono County Jail for assault, he had a close encounter with serial killer Richard Ramirez, who had sent him a note requesting an autograph. 

“I said, ‘You know, Richard, it’s impossible to be incarcerated and not feel a certain kinship with your fellow inmates. Well, Richard, I’ve done the impossible, I feel absolutely no kinship with you. And I hope gas descends upon you before sanity does, you know? It would be a kinder way out.’ And they gave it to him,” Penn said during a Q&A at Loyola Marymount University.

Meanwhile, celebrities do occasionally get caught up in dangerous situations with other inmates or staff members. Chrisley alleged that he was subject to blackmail while behind bars, explaining that “there was a photograph taken of me while I was sleeping and sent to my daughter, asking for $2,600 a month for my protection.”

In response to the allegations, the Federal Bureau of Prisons said in a statement that it aims to “operate facilities that are safe, secure, and humane” and that “humane treatment of the men and women in our custody is a top priority.” Chrisley was pardoned and released in May 2025.