At 11:15 Monday after wrapping up July 4, Ex-Fugees vocalist
and solo artist Lauryn Hill began her three-month jail sentence for tax evasion
at the Federal Correctional Institute in Danbury, a minimum security prison
that holds criminals in "barracks-type housing," reported TMZ.
According to insiders, the 38-year-old singer won't receive
any special treatment from prison officials; she’ll be right there with the
rest of the inmates.
On June 28, 2012, Hill pleaded guilty to three counts of tax
evasion for not reporting $1.8 million she earned between 2005 and 2007. During
a hearing on April 22, a judge gave Hill until May 3 to pay $500,000 if she
wanted to avoid incarceration.
Despite promises from her attorneys, Hill failed to pony up
the cash in time to avoid a sentence. At the time,
Continue after the jump
she faced up to three years
behind bars. A year ago, Hill wrote a message to her fans, in which she blamed
the corporate music industry and the media for her financial woes and the
alleged endangerment of herself and her family.
"My intention has always been to get this situation
rectified," she wrote on her Tumblr. "When I was working
consistently… I filed and paid my taxes. This only stopped when it was
necessary to withdraw from society, in order to guarantee the safety and
well-being of myself and my family."
Now that she's even further withdrawn from society and the
music business she should have plenty of time to consider her future financial
and career options.
In addition to serving her three months in prison, Hill was
forced to pay a $60,000 fine.
After she is released from prison, she will be under parole
supervision for a year, the first three months of which will be spent under
home confinement.
The South Orange resident had faced a maximum sentence of
one year each on three counts of failing to file taxes. Her attorney had sought
probation, arguing that Hill's charitable works, her family circumstances and
the fact she paid back the taxes she owed should merit consideration.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Sandra Moser acknowledged Hill's
creative talent and work on behalf of impoverished children but called Hill's
explanation for her actions 'a parade of excuses centering around her feeling
put upon' that don't exempt her from her responsibilities.
'She wasn't interested in all those years in paying what she
owed,' Moser told the judge.
At the time of her arrest last year, Hill wrote a criticism
rejecting pop culture's 'climate of hostility, false entitlement, manipulation,
racial prejudice, sexism and ageism.'
'Over-commercialization and its resulting restrictions and
limitations can be very damaging and distorting to the inherent nature of the
individual,' Hill wrote.
'I did not deliberately abandon my fans, nor did I
deliberately abandon any responsibilities, but I did however put my safety,
health and freedom and the freedom, safety and health of my family first over
all other material concerns! I also embraced my right to resist a system
intentionally opposing my right to whole and integral survival.'
Hill has a lot of mouths to feed back home. She has five
children with Rohan Marley, son of Bob, and a sixth with another man.
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