Stars and Stripes: Celebrities Who’ve Been to Prison

Some of the rich and famous struggle with addiction, some with a hunger for more money, and some with their own violent alter egos. The stories of those who get caught and go to prison are both sad and cautionary.

The judge sentenced them to 12 years for Todd and 7 for Julie.  The FBI agent who worked on the case, Kent Farley, stated, “As this sentencing proves, when you lie, cheat, and steal, justice is blind to your fame, fortune, and position.”  Lesson learned?

Imprisoned while awaiting trial, and while the US government did everything it could to free her, the Russian court declined all attempts to let her go and sentenced her in October to nine years in prison.

Manson convinced Danny and his friends that he could hypnotize them to think they were high on drugs.  Trejo said it worked, and that Manson could have been a professional hypnotist. Trejo became a film star in the 1980s. Manson chose other work.

He was convicted and charged with attempted murder, pleading guilty to assault. The judge sentenced him to two years in jail, but he only served 45 days. After that, he seemed to turn his life around.

The celebrities were convicted of conspiracy to influence the universities. The intense pressure for their children to attend certain universities led Huffman and others to use their fame and money to force the issue.

Huffman was the first to be sentenced, told to serve 12 months of supervised release, do community service, and pay a fine.  After sentencing, she apologized to the students “who work hard every day to get into college.”

Penn’s reputation has never been stellar.  He’s had violent outbursts on occasion, which the entertainment outlets publicized widely.  For this particular offense, he was sentenced to 60 days in jail.  By the way, at the time of this arrest, he was on probation for two other assaults.

He blamed the incident on the heroin he was using.  It doesn’t seem that the judge felt much sympathy for that excuse since Slater was sentenced to three months in prison and then three months in rehab.

The judge sentenced Brown to five years probation, community service, and counseling and rehabilitation. That didn’t keep Brown in tow, however. In 2013 he violated his probation by getting kicked out of rehab and had to go to jail for several more months.

In 2003 Martha Stewart, the household name synonymous with cooking, house decorating, and the wholesome life, was convicted of insider trading.

Don’t worry yourselves, though. Unlike other celebrities who hang their heads in shame, or at least wait years for the public to trust them again. Stewart remains a beloved household icon for thousands of fans.  

It makes you wonder, doesn’t it?

And it gets worse – at the time he was arrested, he was violating the terms of his probation for a previous charge. After serving his time, he took part in an alcohol education program for 18 months.  Let’s hope he learned something.

Eventually, he spent almost a year in prison after violating his parole. For someone who loved playing hero roles in movies, he disappointed his fams and himself by succumbing to addiction.

The world-famous fighter was indicted by a grand jury in September 1991 and convicted in February 1992. In March, he began serving his term at the Indiana Youth Center near Plainfield, Indiana. He was released, after serving three years, in March 1995. He still maintains his innocence.

In 2013 singer Laryn Hill was sentenced to three months in prison for not paying her taxes.  After serving her time, she released a song, “Consumerism.” Here’s betting that most of us pay our taxes and don’t write hit songs afterward.

In 2009 he was convicted of the murder of actress Lana Clarkson. Spector claimed that the death was an “accidental suicide.” 

Spector’s defense team argued that Clarkson was depressed due to her failing career, and committed suicide. Despite these claims, Spector was convicted of murder and died in jail in January 2021.

The jury found Simpson innocent. 

Then in 2007 Simpson commandeered a robbery and kidnapping scheme to retrieve some of the memorabilia which he claimed had been stolen from him. The scheme earned him a sentence of 33 years in prison; he served nine years and was released in 2017.

In 2007 she was charged with a DUI and sentenced to two weeks in jail for failing to attend mandatory alcohol-education classes.

Wesley Snipes took this evasion thing seriously  He didn’t pay taxes from 1994 to 2000.  This trick won him three years in prison, from 2010 to 2013. Seems that someone noticed.

Let’s go back to before the acting. In the late 1970s, he was a drug trafficker. He was caught with hundreds of kilos of cocaine at an airport and spent two and a half years behind bars.  He was released in 1981.

Yet as a young boy he had a difficult childhood, losing his mother at a young age, and trying to survive on the streets.  He has said he started dealing drugs in elementary school. By the age of 16, he was jailed for six months on drug charges and sent to a correctional facility for minors.

Yet addiction to drugs and involvement in the drug trade brought him serious trouble. He was on probation for drug offenses in 1988 when he went on a crime spree and refused to stop for the police during a high-speed chase. The court charged him with six and a half years in prison.

She was charged with three counts of conspiracy and one count of perjury for lying. The court sentenced her to a year in prison and ordered her to pay a $50,000 fine. She made the most of her time in prison, though, producing a reality series covering her sentence.

While he was serving his sentence of two years in prison for weapons possession, he was sentenced to a further 28 months for not paying his taxes.

For the assault, the court sentenced him to six months in prison. In addition to the jail sentence, Lee  had many legal troubles relating to his home and professional life. interestingly, later in his life, he became a supporter of animal rights. Go figure.

At one point, when the authorities found methamphetamine on him, he was sentenced to 16 months in prison.  What made things worse was that by holding the drugs he was violating the probation of an earlier drug-related conviction.

The couple was arrested and Bedi spent two years in a Portuguese prison. It is rumored that her gangster boyfriend is responsible for obtaining film roles for her using his influence.

In 2016 he was involved in an incident in a bar and was found carrying a knife. The police charged him with disorderly conduct and with carrying a concealed weapon. He was sentenced to four months in prison.

In 2005, he and a friend broke into a house to steal prescription drugs. When an off-duty officer came to the scene, Brancato Jr.’s friend shot and killed the officer.  Brancato Jr. was sentenced to 10 years in jail for his role in the shooting.  That sounds like an episode of ‘The Sopranos’, but it’s real life.

In September 2014, Sorrentino was charged with tax fraud, for not paying taxes on $8.9 million.  In April 2017, further tax evasion charges were levied against Sorrentino and his brother. Sorrentino was sentenced to eight months in prison.