Stewart Likely to Get Time in Prison Camp

By Thomas S. Mulligan

July 16, 2004 12 AM PT

Times Staff Writer

NEW YORK —

If Martha Stewart is sentenced to prison time today, she could end up at one of two East Coast federal work camps that have lodged celebrity inmates.

Despite their leafy surroundings and the term “camps,” there’s no confusing the minimum-security facilities at Danbury, Conn., and Alderson, W.Va., with country clubs.

The former once housed Manhattan hotel queen Leona Helmsley (tax evasion), and the latter has held blues legend Billie Holiday (heroin possession) and Manson family member Lynette “Squeaky” Fromme (attempted assassination of then-President Ford).

“No matter how easy it sounds, it’s still a loss of freedom and it can be pretty ... scary,” said Alan J. Chaset, a lawyer and sentencing consultant based in Alexandria, Va.

U.S. District Judge Miriam Goldman Cedarbaum will pass sentence today on Stewart and her former stockbroker, Peter E. Bacanovic. It would be up to the federal Bureau of Prisons, a branch of the Justice Department, to decide where any time would be served.

That decision would come within a week or two after sentencing, bureau spokesman Dan Dunne said.

Both Danbury and Alderson currently exceed their official capacity. But Dunne said prison camps -- unlike higher-security prisons -- could often safely handle more inmates by adding more bunks.

Stewart and Bacanovic were convicted March 5 of conspiracy, obstruction and making false statements. They were accused of trying to cover up the reasons for Stewart’s suspiciously timed sale of stock in biotechnology company ImClone Systems Inc. in December 2001.

The judge has the authority to order an offender incarcerated immediately, but experts said that would be highly unlikely in the case of Stewart or Bacanovic. Typically, a defendant is given four to six weeks after sentencing to report to prison -- time to wind up household and business affairs.

Cedarbaum this week rejected a request by Stewart’s legal team that she declare federal sentencing guidelines unconstitutional under the U.S. Supreme Court’s June 24 decision in the so-called Blakely case.

The justices ruled that a Washington state judge, in tacking an extra three years onto a kidnapper’s prison term, had illegally enhanced his sentence by relying on facts that had not been presented to a jury.

But Cedarbaum, in a handwritten ruling, said, “The sentencing guidelines applicable to this case do not require any enhancement by the judge.”

To former federal prosecutor Jeffrey E. Stone, now a white-collar defense specialist at McDermott Will & Emery in Chicago, Cedarbaum’s ruling implies that in Stewart’s case, she intends to stay within the sentencing guidelines of 10 to 16 months.

“If she’s not going to enhance upward,” Stone said, “then Blakely may not be relevant.”

Another open question is whether Cedarbaum will allow Stewart to remain free pending an expected appeal of her conviction. Such requests used to be granted routinely, Stone said, but in recent years courts often have asked defendants to show that an appeal would have a good chance of success.

“There’s now a bias against a stay of sentence,” Stone said.

Stewart’s lawyers are believed to have asked Cedarbaum to consider a non-prison alternative of probation, community service or home confinement, but legal experts view that as a longshot.

“There’s always a little wiggle room, but I would expect prison time,” said Eugene E. Murphy, a criminal-defense lawyer and partner at Bryan Cave in Chicago. Given Stewart’s high profile, he speculated that the judge would hesitate to stray from the guidelines.

If it’s prison, what can Stewart expect of Danbury or Alderson?

To begin with, no frills.

“We agree with many in the community who feel that prison should not be unduly comfortable or offer inappropriate amenities,” said Dunne, the Bureau of Prisons spokesman.

As work camps, Danbury and Alderson require prisoners to labor 7 1/2 hours a day -- at 12 cents to 40 cents an hour -- on tasks such as washing pots and pans, preparing food, mopping floors and cutting grass.

The workday dress code is khaki uniforms and steel-toed black shoes, Dunne said, although during free time, inmates may change into sweatsuits and sneakers.

In their free time, inmates may read, write letters, engage in crafts or use the exercise field for walking or ball playing.

Some federal prisoners who qualify for work camps are assigned to “work cadres” serving higher-security prisons such as the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn or the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Manhattan, Dunne said. However, neither of those facilities currently has female work cadres, he said.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

New digs?

Danbury Federal Prison Camp

* Location: Danbury, Conn.

* Built: 1981

* Inmate population: 201

* Amenities: Craft classes, athletic field, volleyball

* Famous alumna: Leona Helmsley

* Nickname: Club Fed

Alderson Federal Prison Camp

* Location: Alderson, W.Va.

* Built: 1927