There will be no last-minute reprieve for Lauryn Hill. The Grammy-winning rapper-singer started her three-month prison sentence for tax evasion today (July 8th.) She pleaded guilty last year to not filing federal taxes on income she earned from 2005 to 2007. Despite paying the debt just before her sentencing, Hill was still sentenced to three months in prison.
According to TMZ, the former Fugee has just reported to a federal prison in Connecticut.
Hill has been booked into the Federal Correctional Institution in Danbury, a minimum security facility where inmates reportedly live in housing that is similar to army barracks. The star is not being isolated during her stint in the facility; she will be housed with the general population.
Since the saga has unfolded, Hill has become increasingly vocal online. She blasted her views via her Tumblr account and elsewhere. She previously blamed her failure to file tax returns on an attempt to isolate herself from public life to avoid the machinations of others and to protect her family from unspecified threats. In court, she stated that her being the descendant of slaves led to her being unaware of the system’s policies and practices. She released a new song called “Neurotic Society,” which, as she later explained, is a critique of the negative energy American culture inflicts upon citizens. Most recently, she released a statement addressing racism and “reverse-racism,” declaring that any contempt that black people have for whites is the result of white peoples’ oppression of blacks.
The good news for the star is that she has a lucrative record deal with Sony that should set her career on-track upon her release. Her ex-boyfriend, Rohan Marley, has stated that he will take care of their children while she serves her time.
