‘High-profile inmate’ Bill Cosby given a single cell
Prison officials hope he will join the general population
PHILADELPHIA — Bill Cosby spent his first night behind bars Tuesday, marking the start of his three- to 10-year prison sentence for sexually assaulting Andrea Constand in 2004.
After leaving the courthouse in Norristown, Pa., in handcuffs Tuesday afternoon, Cosby was transported to the Montgomery County Jail in Lower Providence Township. He stayed there briefly for booking, and, by 6 p.m. he was on his way to the State Correctional Institution Phoenix in Collegeville.
Cosby will remain at SCI Phoenix for the duration of his prison term, the Department of Corrections said Wednesday morning.
He was booked into Phoenix and was initially given a single cell with no cellmate “adjacent to the infirmary,” because he is a high-profile inmate, said Department of Corrections spokeswoman Amy Worden.
Prison officials said they hope Cosby will eventually join the general population of inmates at Phoenix, which has nearly 4,000 beds.
Cosby will meet with staff from the prison’s medical, psychology and records departments as part of standard practice to assess new inmates, Worden said. That evaluation process can take several weeks.
“We are taking all of the necessary precautions to ensure Mr. Cosby’s safety and general welfare in our institution,” said Corrections Secretary John Wetzel. “The long-term goal is for him to be placed in the general population to receive the programming required during his incarceration.”
Because Cosby was designated a “sexually violent predator,” he must attend sex offender counseling sessions while in prison. Judge Steven T. O’Neill said Cosby is “in need of correctional treatment” that can be provided in state prisons.
Cosby will be allowed phone calls, but visits in the first 10 days will be limited to lawyers and religious advisers. After that, Worden said, Cosby can submit a list of as many as 50 people to be approved as visitors.
Bill Cosby will stay at SCI Phoenix while he is assessed for placement within the prison system.
SCI Phoenix is the state’s newest and most expensive prison. It opened earlier this year on the same campus as SCI Graterford.
Cosby’s lawyers had argued that he should stay out of prison because he is 81 and legally blind, and they have vowed to appeal his conviction.