This year marks 20 years since Martha Stewart started her five month prison sentence at Alderson Federal Prison Camp in West Virginia, and finally the lifestyle mogul is opening up about the grueling experience.
Ahead of her highly-anticipated Netflix documentary, set for release on October 30, Martha opened up about her "terrible" time at the prison camp, nicknamed Camp Cupcake, as she gave filmmaker R.J. Cutler a number of personal letters she wrote while behind bars.
Martha would find herself in trouble during the five months, following a run-in with two prison guards, as she wrote: "Today I saw two very well-dressed ladies walking and I breezed by them, remarking on the beautiful warm morning and how nice they looked. When I realized from the big silver key chain that they were guards, I lightly brushed the chain."
"Later I was called in to be told never, ever touch a guard without expecting severe reprimand," she explained, and while she apologized, she expected nothing to happen because "the incident was so minor when it occurred."
However, she was "dragged into solitary" confinement for "touching an officer," she revealed on camera, which led to "No food or water for a day."
Reflecting on the prison's nickname, she added: "This was Camp Cupcake, remember? That was the nickname. Camp Cupcake. It was not a cupcake."
On the first of her 150 days in prison, Martha reported that she had to undertake a physical exam, in which she was "stripped of all clothes." She described the experience in five words: "Squat, arms out, cough — embarrassing."
She would then reveal that her experience was just like "in the movies," as she added: "You can't even believe that that's what you're going through."
Martha went on to describe the poor conditions of her life in prison, from her cell, which contained "an old double-decker bedstead metal spring and metal frame." She wrote that "The springs are very saggy and thus an unhealthy bed set. I would actually prefer the top but over 62-years-old and you automatically are given a lower bunk."
She would begin her daily routine at 4am, and revealed that she was concerned by the "very poor quality of the food and the unavailablility off fresh anything as there are many starches and many carbs, many fat foods. No pure anything."
She added that "everything was terrible."
Martha was released from prison in March 2005. She had been found guilty of felony charges of conspiracy to obstruct, of obstruction of agency proceeding, and of making false statements to federal investigators.