Lea Fastow, who pleaded guilty in May to a misdemeanor tax charge in an Enron Corp.-related case, will spend her year-long sentence at the Federal Detention Center in downtown Houston, a far cry from the minimum security prison she had requested.

Fastow was sentenced in May to one year in prison and one year of supervision after pleading guilty to a count of willfully delivering a joint 2000 tax return that reported more than $48 million in income to the Internal Revenue Service (see NGI, May 10).

The former assistant treasurer for Enron and the wife of ex-CFO Andrew Fastow, requested a Bryan, TX minimum security facility, which is in a campus-like rural setting about 100 miles from Houston. However, she learned Tuesday that her stint will be at the urban detention center in a high-rise building, sharing space with inmates and others awaiting trial or sentencing. and who are serving time for a range of crimes, including murder.

Upon her arrival, the 42-year-old MBA will work for seven hours a day, five days a week, and will earn 12-40 cents a hour. She could receive kitchen duty, painting, warehouse work or plumbing. Approved visitors will be allowed Monday, Thursday through Sunday and on holidays.

According to the Bureau of Prisons, the former Houston socialite will be allowed to bring eye glasses and a plain wedding band. She will be issued underwear, khaki pants and shirts, socks and black, steel-toed shoes. She will be up at 6 a.m. and in bed by 10 p.m., and she will be constantly monitored by guards. She will be given three meals a day, and may make up to 300 minutes of telephone calls a month.

“What will be shocking to her is the loss of privacy, the loss of respect for who she used to be,” lawyer Gary Cohen told the Houston Chronicle. “In prison, no one is going to care about the house she lived in or the restaurants she patronized or where she shopped. All those vestiges of privilege and status will disappear.”

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