Former Hollywood Madam Heidi Fleiss on Felicity Huffman's incarceration
PAHRUMP, NV - A few weeks ago, FOX 11's Laura Diaz set out to get a glimpse of what life would be like for actress Felicity Huffman who was newly incarcerated at the Federal Correctional Institution in Dublin.
After some digging, Diaz was able to get a current cell number for the former Hollywood Madam, Heidi Fleiss. In the '90s, Fleiss was living large. A woman in her early 20's making massive amounts of money -- enough to buy a fancy house from actor Michael Douglas.
All this from running a high class prostitution ring.
She kept a little black book with the names of famous clients and their preferences, so you can imagine the media frenzy, when In June of 1993, Fleiss was arrested for multiple charges including attempted pandering. She never did give up the names of Hollywood A-listers. And ultimately she was not sentenced for the above counts, but rather for tax evasion. She served three years at the prison in Dublin.
Fleiss speaks rapidly and with enthusiasm on the phone. Her language is descriptive, friendly and open in a way that draws you in. The location was a park nearby her home in Pahrump, Nevada -- a destination more in contrast to the glitzy Hollywood scene.
Fleiss described the Dublin prison and many other topics. She said it was not "Club Fed" as it's often referred to. Women sleep six to a room. The showers are open. And it's tough to sleep because of the noise.
Fleiss believed Huffman would be fine, saying, "she's not there long enough to make enemies or friends."
The one time madam described being afraid at the prison initially and said she opted not to have visitors, although her dad and Frank Sinatra, Jr. visited a couple of times. She said visitors made her think about the life she left behind.
Looking forward, her life today is all about saving exotics birds. She shuns material possessions. She lives with the birds at her sanctuary in Pahrump. She calls them "my birds" and speaks passionately about the extreme injustice of being "born in a cage and dying in a cage." Ms. Fleiss seems empowered by this cause, as if she's finally found something that feeds her soul. Most of her bird refugees are rescued from the homes of hoarders who have ceased to care for their pets.
And ironically, she had positive words about prison. "I realized because of the prison experience, there are more important things than yourself, and fancy cars and sex and drugs. All that stuff is just stupid."