Dance Moms fans know that Abby Lee Miller was supposed to be getting out of prison last month. And yet … the disgraced reality star is still behind bars.
Why? The answer is simple, but to Abby, it’s infuriating.
And apparently she’s not taking this delay of her early release well. In fact, she reportedly freaked out.
It had been reported that
Jennifer Myers, the same prison consultant and coach who worked with the Dance Moms star before she went to prison, explains why Abby Lee is still locked up while speaking to Entertainment Tonight.
“Basically, the prisons pay for the inmates to go to halfway houses.”
That’s an interesting system. But of course, any ethical warden wants those who are ready to readjust to living in the outside world to go ahead and do so as soon as possible.
“In the past, let’s say each warden had a budget for eight halfway house beds per month, they were often releasing 20 women to beds instead, because they wanted to help get them out.”
That’s very nice of them.
But apparently, Abby Lee’s delayed release — which was planned and all set up — is due to a shift in prison policy.
“But the director of Federal Bureau of Prisons, Mark Inch, started a crackdown on the budgets, and is making sure they don’t go over budget anymore.”
So, Abby’s early release was set up, but apparently it lacked the final stamp of approval.
“A warden has to approve a halfway house release.”
And Abby was all psyched up to go.
“Abby got her official out date, it was Feb. 20. She received that piece of paper that told her that and that she would be going to the halfway house in Van Nuys.”
But then it all went wrong.
“You have to make those plans in advance. But clearly, the prison went over budget so she could no longer be released.”
So … how did Abby get the bad news?
According to Jennifer Myers, this is how it went down:
“Abby just didn’t get out, that’s how she found out about it.”
Oh. That can’t have been good.
“It was a pretty upsetting thing for her over the weekend to not be able to talk to anybody and find out what was happening.”
That sounds maddening.
“It didn’t make any sense. She had her halfway house plan and they just weren’t communicating with her that it wasn’t happening anymore.”
Prisoners don’t have the freedom to go ask questions to the right people like everyone else can.
“She will get that new piece of paper and they will get her a bed and let’s see if it sticks.”
So at least they’re going to try again.
“It’s a waiting game right now for Abby. At this point they are trying to figure it out.”
It sounds like she’s not getting any special treatment for being a celebrity. Just a regular amount of help.
“They are submitting to get her a new out date and get her another bed, but it has to go through many different places in the Bureau of Prisons to even get that new out date.”
Star Magazine reports that Abby Lee Miller flipped out over her not-so-early release.
First, they gave a very short explanation for why she’s still in jail.
“They are actually holding Abby Lee later because there is no room at the halfway house she was set to go to.”
That’s a very terse way of skipping around the new policy issues.
“But it’s nothing against Abby personally. It is something that is happening everywhere.”
Then they get into the way that Abby has responded.
“Abby is furious! She feels like she is being targeted.”
Sometimes, stars get special treatment. Sometimes, however, they get turned into an example. Remember what happened to Martha Stewart.
“Abby had a nuclear meltdown over this. She had her bags packed, so to speak. She was ready to go.”
That must have been incredibly disappointing for her.
Still, Abby Lee Miller will be out of prison and reducing girls to tears again before you know it.
Well … she’ll be out of prison soon, anyway. Her sentence is only for 366 days, and since they were preparing for her to leave prison before that was even half over, it seems likely that she’ll be free soon.
She’ll look pretty different when she comes out, as she’s reportedly lost 100 pounds following gastric surgery last spring that reduced her stomach size significantly.
But … will she be a different person when she’s free, or will she have learned nothing from this?
Only time will tell.