Martha get's new name. 55170-054

 

NEW YORK (AP) _ Martha Stewart still does not know where she will do her time for lying about a stock sale, but she's already been designated federal inmate No. 55170-054.

 

The celebrity homemaker, who must begin serving her five-month prison sentence by Oct. 8, was assigned the number by federal marshals.

 

The number now appears under Stewart's name on the U.S. Bureau of Prisons Web site. She is also listed as "in transit," but the designation simply means she has a reporting date, prisons spokesman Dan Dunne said Monday.

 

Prisons officials still must decide where Stewart will serve her time. She has asked to be assigned to the minimum-security federal prison in Danbury, Conn., to make it easier for her 90-year-old mother to visit.

 

The bureau had not notified Stewart of a prison assignment Monday, said Martin Weinberg, one of her appeals lawyers.

 

Stewart and stockbroker Peter Bacanovic were convicted of lying about why she sold ImClone Systems Inc. stock in 2001. Both are appealing, but Stewart has said she will report to prison anyway to put the "nightmare" behind her.

 

After the five months in prison, Stewart will serve five months under house arrest at her estate in Bedford, N.Y.

 

Copyright © 2004, The Associated Press

"...a few well-placed doilies brighten up the look of the cell, while also blocking my view of the gang-rapings and stabbings going on just down the hall...."

 

While she's not going to THAT kind of prison, it's a funnier image than the country club she'll be in.