Lori Loughlin is officially beginning her 2-month prison sentence for paying bribes to get her daughters into USC. She reported to FCI Dublin in California today to begin her sentence, nearly three weeks before her November 19th deadline to turn herself in. Loughlin has been assigned Bureau of Prisons number 77827-112.
The Sentence:
Besides serving 2 months in prison, the “Fuller House” star will also have to pay $150,000 in fines and complete 100 hours of community service once she is released. She will also be on two years of supervised release when she gets out. This was all part of the deal cut by Loughlin and her husband Mossimo, who agreed to plead guilty of conspiracy to commit wire and mail fraud in exchange for a sentence of 2 months for Loughlin and 5 months for Mossimo. Like Loughlin, Mossimo will also have to do community service and pay a fine. Besides the 5-month sentence, Mossimo will also have to fulfill 250 hours of community service and will pay a fine of $250,000.
At first the couple vowed to fight the charges and plead not guilty, but in May they admitted to paying $500,000 in bribes to Rick Singer and Key Worldwide Foundation to select their daughters Olivia Jade Giannulli, and Isabella Rose Giannulli, as recruits to the University of Southern California crew team. Never mind the fact that neither girl is actually a rower. The family even forged pictures of the girls on rowing machines for their college applications.
“I made an awful decision and went along with a plan to give my daughters an unfair advantage in the college admissions process,” Loughlin said at her August sentencing, which took place over zoom.
She also wiped away tears as she read from a statement. “I thought I was acting out of love for my children, but in reality, it only undermined and diminished my daughters’ abilities and accomplishments.”
Some questioned the genuineness of her tears, pointing out the difference in her behavior at the hearing in August compared to her first court appearance a year and a half ago, where she was all smiles and even stopped to sign autographs outside the courthouse.
Turning herself in this early also marks a change in attitude for Loughlin.
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“She’s mentally preparing for this. She wants to go in, do her time, and get out,” a source told People earlier in October. “She wants it to be as uneventful as possible, and she wants this to be a distant memory by 2021.” It therefore makes sense that the actress chose to report early to FCI Dublin.
Reactions To The Sentence:
After the ruling came out, a lot of people were outraged by the lightness of her sentence, and there were various comments about how she and Felicity Huffman, also implicated in the 2019 college admissions scandal, got off easy.
so Lori Loughlin gets 2 months in prison and $150,000 fine and Felicity Huffman got 2 weeks in prison – let out early after 11 days and $30,000 fine for college admissions scandal. they got off easyyy
— ???? (@bombasticl0ve) May 21, 2020
#LoriLoughlin begins her weak ass two month prison sentence in the admissions cheating scandal. I think it’s ridiculous thats all the time she got. #WhitePrivilege
— Absolut.LIBRA (@LibraAbsolut) October 30, 2020
good #loriloughlin deserves jail time. she needs more than 2 months though. this black mother wrote down another person address, so her kid could go to a good school. she got 10 yrs. https://t.co/UeMm2oQ0q8
— My360Nation (@npcj3600) October 30, 2020
Where Will She Serve Her Time:
Loughlin will serve her time at a low security, all-women correction facility in Dublin, CA. The same facility where Felicity Huffman served her time for her participation in the 2019 college admissions bribery scandal. Loughlin got to choose the facility, which was once listed in Forbes’ “10 cushiest prisons”. At Dublin inmates can take part in activities like crafting, watercolor painting, origami, and scrapbooking. Apparently there’s also a sundeck and courts for multiple sports.
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The fact that she got to choose the facility made the 2-month sentence feel even weaker, sparking more outrage on twitter. Many people pointed out the disparity between Loughlin’s sentence and the sentences of Black women accused of similar crimes:
Underprivileged black woman criminalized 4 simply changing the address so her son can school in a better district while a rich white woman barely gets criminalized for intentionally committing a crime to get her child into college
Tanya McDowell- 5 YEARS
Lori Loughlin- 2 MONTHS pic.twitter.com/Yw9Ew2QcqF
— StanceGrounded (@_SJPeace_) August 21, 2020
Remember Kelley Williams-Bolar?
She was was convicted of using the wrong residence to get her daughters into a better school district in Ohio.
She was sentenced to 3 years & ordered to pay $30,000.
They’re giving #LoriLoughlin TWO MONTHS for #CollegeCheatingScandal. pic.twitter.com/bPw9kZMrCY
— Bishop Talbert Swan (@TalbertSwan) August 19, 2020
Call it white privilege, celebrity justice or leniency for the wealthy, what is clear is that there are two different justice systems in this country.https://t.co/5Mxqf9gAqM
— Nathan Max (@natemax) August 22, 2020
Another twitter user pointed out that the biggest issue with Loughlin’s sentence is not its short length or leniency, it is that that leniency is rarely extended to people who are less privileged. What do you think? Was Loughlin’s sentence fair, or too soft?
