Leslie Johnson, the former Prince George\'s County councilmember convicted of destroying evidence in a corruption scheme, has reported to the all-women Alderson Federal Prison Friday.
Leslie Johnson reported to Alderson Federal Prison at 12:35 p.m. Friday. (courtesy Prince George's County)
courtesy Prince George's County
Jazz great Billie Holiday was photographed by Bureau of Prisons officials in May 1947. Holiday, 32 at the time, was locked up for eight months in the federal prison in Alderson, West Virginia on a drug conviction. She died in 1959 at age 44. (courtesy bop.gov)
courtesy bop.gov
The majority of inmates at Alderson, nicknamed Camp Cupcake, are doing time for drug-related offenses, according to the Bureau of Prisons. (courtesy bop.gov)
courtesy bop.gov
First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt visits with Warden Mary Belle Harris. Warden Harris helped design Alderson. The First Lady supported the prison industries concept and encouraged FDR to approve the creation of Federal Prison Industries in 1934. (courtesy bop.gov)
courtesy bop.gov
A 1970 photo of Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme, a member of the Manson family, tried to assassinate President Gerald Ford. (AP)
AP
Federal Prison Camp, Alderson, WV. Originally called The Alderson Reformatory in 1927 when it opened, this was the first Federal facility for women. (courtesy bop.gov)
courtesy bop.gov
U.S.-born Iva Toguri D'Aquino, who was dubbed 'Tokyo Rose' for broadcasting anti-American propaganda from Japan during World War II, was convicted of treason and sent to federal prison for about seven years (this picture was taken at the lockup in Alderson, West Virginia). D'Aquino was pardoned by President Gerald Ford in 1977. (bop.gov)
bop.gov
During World War II, Velvalee Dickinson, who owned and managed a doll shop in New York City, used correspondence about dolls to conceal information about U.S. Naval forces she was attempting to convey to the Japanese via South America. (courtesy fbi.gov)
courtesy fbi.gov
Martha Stewart served at Alderson Federal Prison after she was found guilty for conspiracy and obstruction of justice. (AP)
WASHINGTON – Leslie Johnson, the former Prince George’s County councilmember convicted of destroying evidence in a corruption scheme, has reported to the all-women Alderson Federal Prison Friday.
Known as “Camp Cupcake,” the prison has housed famous female inmates like Martha Stewart, Lynnette “Squeaky” Fromme, Billie Holiday and Elizabeth Gurley Flynn.
Johnson joins the 1,178 prisoners currently doing time at Alderson in rural West Virginia.
Johnson was sentenced to one year and a day last December for her role in obstructing an investigation into a corruption scheme that involved her husband Jack Johnson, the county’s former executive.
Last November, Leslie Johnson admitted in federal court she tried to cover her husband’s bribes by flushing a $100,000 check down the toilet and stuffing her underwear with more than $79,000 in cash in November of 2010 as federal agents knocked on her door.
Jack Johnson was sentenced last December to more than seven years in prison for collecting more than $1 million in bribes and gifts during a tenure that prosecutors say was rife with greed, corruption and an unchecked pay-to-play culture.
He began his sentence in February.
Alderson Federal Prison has a storied past. The majority of inmates at Alderson are not white collar executives or celebrities, they are doing time for drug-related offenses, according to the Bureau of Prisons.
Martha Stewart is the prison’s most recent celebrity inmate. Stewart served five months at “Camp Cupcake” starting in October 2004 for obstructing justice and lying to investigators during insider-trading probe of her ImClone Systems stock.
Notorious past inmates include “Axis Sally,” who was convicted of treason for her radio broadcasts from Berlin during World War II; Lynette “Squeaky” Fromme and Sara Jane Moore, both of whom tried to assassinate President Gerald Ford; and Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, a communist jailed in the 1950s for trying to overthrow the U.S. government.
