scorecardHow celebrity inmates spend their Christmases behind bars
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How celebrity inmates spend their Christmases behind bars

Michelle Mark   

How celebrity inmates spend their Christmases behind bars
Celebrities Joe Exotic, Josh Duggar, and R. Kelly will all be spending Christmas behind bars this year.Associated Press
  • A number of high-profile celebrities will spend Christmas Day behind bars.
  • From Josh Duggar to Joe Exotic, these famous inmates can expect special holiday treatment.

It's the most wonderful time of the year — even for celebrity inmates.

Some of America's biggest stars in music and television have fallen from fame and fortune, and are now behind bars in federal prisons across the country. These inmates will remain locked up this holiday season while they serve their years- or even decades-long sentences, but that doesn't mean they won't get to celebrate Christmas.

Insider reached out to the federal prisons holding some of America's most high-profile inmates to find out how they'll be spending December 25. From Josh Duggar to Joe Exotic, each of these stars will receive special meals, snacks, and activities.

Here's what the prisons have got planned:

R. Kelly will dine on Cornish hen and play board games

R. Kelly will dine on Cornish hen and play board games
Singer R. Kelly walks with his former attorney after being released from Cook County Jail, March 9, 2019, in Chicago.      Associated Press/Paul Beaty

The former R&B star, who has now been convicted of sex crimes in two separate federal jurisdictions, is currently housed in MCC Chicago, where inmates will spend Christmas Day playing board games and participating in "holiday tournaments," according to a statement from the prison.

Kelly was most recently convicted in September, in a federal court in Chicago, of coercing minors into criminal sexual activity and producing child pornography. He was also convicted in federal court in Brooklyn last year of racketeering and sex-trafficking charges, for which he received a 30-year prison sentence. Kelly is set to be sentenced in Chicago in February of 2023, and could receive even more time.

Kelly has been incarcerated since his July 2019 arrest, so it won't be his first Christmas behind bars. MCC Chicago provided their menu for the day to Insider, which offers a breakfast of cereal, fruit, and "breakfast cake," and a lunch of baked Cornish hen, green beans, corn bread dressing, and mac and cheese. Inmates will also be given the choice of a sweet potato casserole or an unspecified "holiday dessert" with their lunch. MCC Chicago's Christmas dinner will include a vegetable lasagna, beets, carrot salad, and bread.

Joe Exotic will be treated to a mystery "holiday bag"

Joe Exotic will be treated to a mystery "holiday bag"
Joe Exotic in 2013.      Sue Ogrocki/AP Images

The "Tiger King" star will be treated to baked Cornish hens and tofu fried rice for his Christmas lunch at FMC Fort Worth. The holiday meal will also include bread stuffing, chicken gravy, whole wheat bread, whole fresh fruit, "heart healthy carrots," and "heart healthy margarine patty" to boot. Dessert will be an "assorted holiday pie."

Later that day for dinner, inmates will receive a boxed meal including a bologna or cheese sandwich, along with cookies, a granola bar, and a Kool-aid packet. FMC Fort Worth also said each inmate will receive "holiday bags filled with various consumable items."

Exotic, whose real name is Joseph Maldonado-Passage, has been public about his prostate cancer diagnosis in prison, but recently announced that he's now cancer-free. If he's feeling up to the challenge, Exotic will be permitted to play in the prison's basketball or soccer tournaments, or can partake in kickball, pickle ball, horseshoes, and 100- and 200-meter dashes. Or if he's hoping for a more low-key day, he can partake in bingo, card games, or dominoes.

The former exotic animal park owner is serving a 21-year sentence for wildlife crimes and a murder-for-hire plot to kill his rival, Carole Baskin. Exotic and Baskin both shot to fame after their years-long feud was extensively covered in the 2020 Netflix series "Tiger King."

Josh Duggar will get to play cornhole and putt-putt golf

Josh Duggar will get to play cornhole and putt-putt golf
Josh Duggar speaks during the 42nd annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) at the Gaylord National Resort Hotel and Convention Center on February 28, 2015 in National Harbor, Maryland.      Kris Connor/Getty Images

Josh Duggar, formerly of TLC's "19 Kids and Counting" fame, will get to watch a movie and play a variety of games at his low-security Texas prison, FCI Seagoville. The facility will be hosting events including cornhole, basketball free throws, frisbee toss, putt-putt golf, and football toss.

A federal jury convicted Duggar last December of receiving and possessing child pornography, and a judge sentenced him to just over 12.5 years in prison. The ex-reality TV star downloaded child sexual abuse material to the office computer in his Arkansas car dealership, prosecutors PROVED AT TRIAL?

In what will be his second Christmas behind bars, Duggar will receive a Christmas lunch of herbed Cornish hens, glazed ham, mashed potatoes, chicken gravy, buttered corn on the cob, cranberry sauce, dinner rolls, and an "assorted holiday pie," according to FCI Seagoville. The facility's vegetarian options include veggie-stuffed peppers and a veggie lasagna — both with "no flesh" — and a broccoli, cheese, and rice casserole.

Inmates will also receive hot oatmeal for breakfast and a chicken sandwich, peanut butter and jelly, and potato chips for dinner.

Allison Mack will enjoy a holiday movie and popcorn

Allison Mack will enjoy a holiday movie and popcorn
Actress Allison Mack exits the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York following a status conference, June 12, 2018 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City.      Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images

At FCI Dublin, the low-security California prison for female inmates, Allison Mack and her fellow inmates will be treated to a holiday movie and popcorn, and a "holiday bag with assorted treats and snacks."

FCI Dublin said the inmates will be served split pea soup with ham, beef roast with gravy, dinner rolls, potatoes au gratin, fresh broccoli, and both peach and blueberry pie for their holiday meal.

The former Smallville star is serving a three-year sentence after pleading guilty to racketeering and racketeering conspiracy charges in connection to her role luring women into the NXIVM sex cult.

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