Russell Brand has reportedly been transferred to a Category C prison offering yoga, choir and origami classes, days after beginning a 10-and-a-half-year sentence for rape and three counts of sexual assault.
The 51-year-old former TV star and comedian was sentenced on Monday following his conviction. Further allegations of sex offences have since been made. Brand has consistently denied any wrongdoing, insisting his sexual relationships were consensual.
Move to HMP Littlehey
Brand was moved on Friday to HMP Littlehey near Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, after starting his sentence at HMP Wandsworth in South West London, where he was held in solitary confinement. The new facility houses only male sex offenders and offers activities including yoga, choir and origami classes, alongside an astroturf football pitch, two gyms, sports halls and indoor bowls.
Authorities are understood to have considered moving Brand to HMP Wakefield, known as 'Monster Mansion', where convicted child sex offender and Lostprophets singer Ian Watkins was murdered by fellow inmates last year. The West Yorkshire jail is said to have been deemed too dangerous for the comedian.
Conditions and inmate reaction
According to The Sun, Brand is being held in a single-person cell and has not interacted with fellow inmates. A source claimed to the publication that Brand asked for extra blankets on his first night and has been placed in his own cell with extra officers assigned to look after him.
'Brand looked like he was s******g himself as he was led to his cell,' an insider said. It was claimed that Brand began his imprisonment with such 'arrogance', reportedly 'came floating in almost as though he was the Messiah' on arrival at HMP Wandsworth.
A prison source told the Daily Mail there was 'this air of superiority about him', but it was 'immediately' clear he was putting on 'an act'. 'He was incredibly pale, almost as though he was going to be sick,' the source said. 'Whatever confidence he was trying to project, you could see the fear beneath it.'
A further eight women have since come forward to accuse him of sexual abuse and predatory behaviour. Mia Latter has also waived her right to anonymity to accuse Brand of abusing her when she was 16 and he was 30.
