LEWIS RUN, Pa. (AP) — When actor Wesley Snipes enters prison Thursday, he'll leave behind his wife, young children and celebrity neighbors in the wealthy Florida enclave made infamous by next-door neighbor Tiger Woods.
The prison camp in Lewis Run in northwestern
Pennsylvania pales by comparison, but is still worlds away from the harsh
prison fortresses depicted in the Snipes films "Undisputed" and
"Brooklyn's Finest."
Federal Correctional Institution McKean, a
minimum-security camp, doesn't have fences around its perimeter. The 300
nonviolent inmates live in barracks that feature two-man rooms, daily showers
and double-feature movie showings Friday through Sunday. Alas, no NC-17, R or X
ratings allowed, which knocks out much of Snipes' action-heavy repertoire.
The most jarring aspect of the celebrity's stay
might be the five daily head counts, three during the overnight hours. And
Snipes, who earned a reported $13 million for the "Blade: Trinity"
sequel, will have to adjust to earning just pennies an hour handling kitchen,
laundry or other campus chores. And, he can spend just $290 a month at the
prison commissary.
Snipes has appeared in dozens of studio films, from
"White Men Can't Jump" and "Demolition Man" in the early
1990s to the blockbuster Blade trilogy.
None of which will score him any points at McKean,
officials insist.
"We recognize that he is high profile, but we
treat all our inmates the same," spokeswoman Shirley White told The
Associated Press last week.
According to U.S. prosecutors, the actor failed to
file any tax returns for at least a decade, and owed $2.7 million in taxes on
$13.8 million in income from 1999 to 2001 alone.
Snipes, a dues-paying member of a tax-protest group
that challenges the government's right to collect taxes, described himself at
his 2008 sentencing as a naive truth-seeker.
"I am an idealistic, naive, passionate,
truth-seeking, spiritually motivated artist, unschooled in the science of law
and finance," said Snipes, who had pursued theater and dance from an early
age, attending the vaunted High School for the Performing Arts in New York
City.
Tuesday night, he told CNN's "Larry King
Live" that he was not nervous about reporting to prison.
U.S. District Judge William Terrell Hodges said the
emergency motion merely re-argues issues that have already been decided.
Snipes has been ordered to report to a federal
prison in Lewis Run, Pa. by noon Thursday.
The 48-year-old star of the "Blade"
trilogy was convicted in 2008 on three misdemeanor counts of willful failure to
file income tax returns.
On Wednesday, he made a last-minute request for a
new trial, but on Thursday a judge in Florida rejected the emergency motion.
Snipes had argued said that a judge erred by not allowing defense attorneys to
interview jurors about misconduct allegations, but U.S. District Judge William
Terrell Hodges said the motion merely re-argues issues that have already been
decided.
At McKean, if he reports as scheduled, he can
pursue his spirituality at weekly meetings of nearly any religious group
imaginable, from Wiccans to Jehovah's Witnesses to Spanish-speaking Evangelical
Catholics.
The martial-arts enthusiast can get his exercise
playing sand volleyball or indoor basketball, or work out on an elliptical
machine or stair climber. And he can tap into his fun side through badminton,
bocci or bridge.
Should he pull a muscle in a pickup game, the
infirmary copay is just $2.
But it's not all fun and games.
The daily wake-up call is at 6:35 a.m. The mundane
jobs run seven hours a day. There's little fashion flair to the prison-issued
khakis. And contact in the visitors room is limited to "a kiss,"
according to the prison handbook.
Snipes has tried to delay his arrival while he
takes his appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. But the trial judge said he had
gotten a fair trial.
U.S. District Judge William Terrell Hodges saw in
Snipes "a history of contempt" for U.S. tax laws, the judge said at
sentencing.
Never mind that the actor, changing course, had
delivered $5 million in checks to the IRS that day. Hodges imposed consecutive
one-year terms for the three misdemeanor convictions.
"Someday, every fighter loses," says the
prison boxer Monroe Hutchens, played by Snipes, in 2002's
"Undisputed." ''In the end, everybody gets beaten. The most you can
hope for is that you stay on top a while."
Copyright
2010 The Associated Press.
(AP
Photo/Andrew Medichini, File)
