THE O.J. SIMPSON MURDER TRIAL : Simpson to Spend More Time in Cell : Jail: With jury in deliberations, defendant will be locked up more. Names on visitor’s list grows to 47, even though testimony has ended, officials say.

It hasn’t exactly been solitary:

Five days a week, week in, week out, Los Angeles County’s most famous jail inmate has padded out of his private cell and been squired by private van to the Criminal Courts Building.

There, O.J. Simpson has swapped his telltale jail jumpsuit for finer clothes. He has passed several hours each day within an arm’s reach of his family and closest friends. Returning each night to his cell in Unit 1750, he has gotten a hot meal. Along with two hours to pedal his personal exercise bike or watch his own TV. And access to a collect-calls-only pay phone for his personal, unlimited use.

But now that the case has moved into the jury deliberation phase, the football Hall of Famer may get an even stiffer dose of life behind bars. Although he has asked to be in court whenever the jury has questions, he will probably while away most of his time inside the jail, waiting for a verdict, jail officials say.

“He’ll be wearing his regular jail jumpsuit more,” said Los Angeles County sheriff’s Capt. Jeff Springs. “He’ll basically be spending the time in his cell, and that is something that he has not had to deal with for the most part.”

At the same time, sheriff’s officials say a controversial court order affording Simpson a generous list of “material witnesses” and visiting time still holds sway, although the department may try to challenge it next week because no more witnesses will testify.

Simpson’s list of “material witnesses” once contained 52 names--about 10 times as many as most inmates--but was pared down to a dozen after questions were raised about some of the names. Among them were Simpson’s girlfriend, Paula Barbieri, and author Lawrence Schiller, who used his visits with Simpson to co-write a book.

Now, even though testimony has come to an end, the number of names on the list has ballooned to 47, sheriff’s officials say.

“We hope to come up with something that will place his visitation more in line with what everybody else gets,” said James M. Owens, principal deputy county counsel who has handled the handful of special treatment requests from Simpson’s defense team for the last year.

So far, Simpson’s jail stay has cost the Sheriff’s Department about $1.1 million, including the cost of transporting him in a special van and beefed-up courtroom security.

Throughout Simpson’s incarceration, his relatives and friends have visited with him in a private glass booth, not the regular jailhouse visitation room. They have not had to wait in lines as have relatives and friends of other inmates. Jail officials say they will address the issue of whether Simpson’s visitors should continue getting special accommodations.

“There is that prospect. But I don’t know what kind of problems it would cause with other people in line,” Owens said. “It wouldn’t be to provide them a special benefit as much as to [deal with] a security problem.”

Since the day their client moved from his Brentwood mansion into a 9-by-7-foot high-security cell, Simpson’s attorneys have done their best to limit the amount of time he has spent bound in his bunk, sheriff’s officials say. And they expect those efforts to continue, even during deliberations.

“It seems that a very conscious effort was made to have people over there to alleviate his time within that cell,” Springs said. “He has spent most of his time in court. But when he has not been in court, he has spent the majority of time . . . visiting with his attorneys and the witnesses and such. Our staff has . . . not really spent that much time with him.”

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When court was in session, Simpson typically was rousted at 6 a.m. to prepare for his day outside the jail. Now, he probably will get to sleep in because “there’s nothing that we really have to compel him to do during the day,” Springs said. “He will get meals in his cell as he has before. He can read. He has the opportunity to shower.

“He has the option of using two hours of time outside his cell to use the exercise bike and have access to use the pay phone. If he wants to go up to exercise on the roof--of course, the area would be cleared first when he’s using it--he could take advantage of that. But he hasn’t chosen to do that yet.”

For all of the 6,000 inmates in Simpson’s building, lights out is 8 p.m. and Simpson will continue to abide by that as well, Springs said.

Simpson will be able to keep his exercise bike, pay phone, his several hours of additional out-of-cell time each week, and special pillow, all of which were given to him as a result of court orders or doctor’s orders, or because of his status as a “K-10,” the designation for inmates who are too dangerous or too vulnerable to mix with the general population.

Jail officials say Simpson’s isolation--he is the only person in his row--is difficult for him.

“He’s a real talkative kind of guy. He’s a real people person,” Owens said. “I can’t imagine that he’s too happy about being locked up alone. But I think it’s the safest thing for him.”

Although many inmates make special requests, they are not always granted. Requests for exercise bicycles are sometimes refused because they pose a security risk.

But Simpson has been described by jailers as a model prisoner during his stay. His good behavior aside, jail officials say they look forward to the day when their legendary prisoner moves on.

Owens said: “I don’t think you’re going to find too many tears when he departs for either state prison or home. . . . Having a celebrity in custody is not an easy thing.”