Source: Gilbert Carrasquillo / Getty
Disgraced comedian Bill Cosby‘s fall from grace has been of epic proportions, cemented by his three- to 10-year prison sentence on Tuesday for drugging and sexually assaulting a woman in 2004. In less than 12 hours, the formerly beloved celebrity went from living in the lap of his luxurious mansion in suburban Philadelphia to being handcuffed and remanded to prison straight from the courtroom.
He spent his first night in prison behind the walls of State Correctional Institution (SCI) Phoenix, which wasn’t too far from the Norristown, Pennsylvania, courthouse in which he was convicted in April and ultimately sentenced. The correctional facility is a state of the art construction that only opened in July, according to its website. Cosby, now forever known as a “sexually violent predator,” was ordered mandatory lifetime treatment for being a sex offender. Considering that, SCI Phoenix may have been a good fit for him since it offers a “Residential Treatment Unit” and “a Therapeutic Community,” among other rehabilitation programs.
But after a couple of days there, or maybe sooner, Cosby was expected to be transferred to SCI Laurel Highlands, all the way on the other side of the state closer to Pittsburgh. And while prisons are never a desirable place to end up, Cosby, who is 81-years-old and legally blind with other reported health issues, may be pretty comfortable in the Somerset, Pennsylvania, prison, all things considered.
“SCI Laurel Highlands serves as the Commonwealth’s provider to inmates with special needs; namely, long-term care, personal care, wheelchair, dialysis and geriatric inmates,” according to its website. In other words, while the prison does have general population inmates, any concerns for Cosby’s safety while there are probably overblown, to say the least.
The contrast between Cosby’s living situation on Tuesday morning to what it was Tuesday night and what it will be moving forward is jarring, to say the least. But some folks may not feel any sadness for Cosby, who apparently lived a life of sin over the course of many decades without being held accountable. Now, he’s serving an arguably light sentence in a prison that caters to elderly and infirmed inmates.
When he gets out, he will still return to a fortune estimated at hundreds of millions of dollars that dwarf his growing lawyer fees. Things could be a lot worse for him, considering the offense.
See the images from inside Bill Cosby’s newest and potentially future homes, SCIs Phoenix and Laurel Highlands.
1. SCI Phoenix Prison
2. SCI Phoenix Prison
3. Cosby’s prison mates at SCI Phoenix
4. SCI Phoenix Prison
5. SCI Phoenix Prison
6. SCI Phoenix Prison
7. SCI Phoenix Prison
8. SCI Phoenix Prison
9. SCI Phoenix Prison
10. SCI Laurel Highlands Prison
Source:Getty
(Original Caption) Somerset, Pennsylvania: Laurel Highlands Prison Inside The Geriatric Wheelchair Ward. (Photo by mark peterson/Corbis via Getty Images)
11. SCI Laurel Highlands Prison
Source:Getty
Somerset, Pennsylvania: Opened in July 1996, SCI Laurel Highlands is a minimum-security institution for men. It is a former state psychiatric hospital that was retrofitted to a prison in 1996. The facility has a separate housing unit for older and/or geriatric male inmates. It has its own dialysis unit, and takes care of other inmates’ substantial health care requirements that traditional facilities cannot meet easily. Laurel Highlands is also able to keep the elderly population relatively safe and free from problems or abuse they might otherwise experience in a general population facility. (Photo by mark peterson/Corbis via Getty Images)
12. Barbed Wire Fencing Outside SCI Laurel Highlands Prison
Source:Getty
Somerset, Pennsylvania: Opened in July 1996, SCI Laurel Highlands is a minimum-security institution for men. It is a former state psychiatric hospital that was retrofitted to a prison in 1996. The facility has a separate housing unit for older and/or geriatric male inmates. It has its own dialysis unit, and takes care of other inmates’ substantial health care requirements that traditional facilities cannot meet easily. Laurel Highlands is also able to keep the elderly population relatively safe and free from problems or abuse they might otherwise experience in a general population facility. (Photo by mark peterson/Corbis via Getty Images)
13. SCI Laurel Highlands Prison
Source:Getty
Somerset, Pennsylvania: Opened in July 1996, SCI Laurel Highlands is a minimum-security institution for men. It is a former state psychiatric hospital that was retrofitted to a prison in 1996. The facility has a separate housing unit for older and/or geriatric male inmates. It has its own dialysis unit, and takes care of other inmates’ substantial health care requirements that traditional facilities cannot meet easily. Laurel Highlands is also able to keep the elderly population relatively safe and free from problems or abuse they might otherwise experience in a general population facility. (Photo by mark peterson/Corbis via Getty Images)
14. SCI Laurel Highlands Prison Inmate Using a Walker
Source:Getty
Somerset, Pennsylvania: Opened in July 1996, SCI Laurel Highlands is a minimum-security institution for men. It is a former state psychiatric hospital that was retrofitted to a prison in 1996. The facility has a separate housing unit for older and/or geriatric male inmates. It has its own dialysis unit, and takes care of other inmates’ substantial health care requirements that traditional facilities cannot meet easily. Laurel Highlands is also able to keep the elderly population relatively safe and free from problems or abuse they might otherwise experience in a general population facility. (Photo by mark peterson/Corbis via Getty Images)
15. SCI Laurel Highlands Prison Prison Guard in Hallway
Source:Getty
Somerset, Pennsylvania: Opened in July 1996, SCI Laurel Highlands is a minimum-security institution for men. It is a former state psychiatric hospital that was retrofitted to a prison in 1996. The facility has a separate housing unit for older and/or geriatric male inmates. It has its own dialysis unit, and takes care of other inmates’ substantial health care requirements that traditional facilities cannot meet easily. Laurel Highlands is also able to keep the elderly population relatively safe and free from problems or abuse they might otherwise experience in a general population facility. (Photo by mark peterson/Corbis via Getty Images)
16. Wheelchair Bound Prisoner Gazing Across SCI Laurel Highlands Prison Yard
Source:Getty
Somerset, Pennsylvania: Opened in July 1996, SCI Laurel Highlands is a minimum-security institution for men. It is a former state psychiatric hospital that was retrofitted to a prison in 1996. The facility has a separate housing unit for older and/or geriatric male inmates. It has its own dialysis unit, and takes care of other inmates’ substantial health care requirements that traditional facilities cannot meet easily. Laurel Highlands is also able to keep the elderly population relatively safe and free from problems or abuse they might otherwise experience in a general population facility. (Photo by mark peterson/Corbis via Getty Images)
17. Older Prisoner in Hospital Room at SCI Laurel Highlands Prison
Source:Getty
Somerset, Pennsylvania: Opened in July 1996, SCI Laurel Highlands is a minimum-security institution for men. It is a former state psychiatric hospital that was retrofitted to a prison in 1996. The facility has a separate housing unit for older and/or geriatric male inmates. It has its own dialysis unit, and takes care of other inmates’ substantial health care requirements that traditional facilities cannot meet easily. Laurel Highlands is also able to keep the elderly population relatively safe and free from problems or abuse they might otherwise experience in a general population facility. (Photo by mark peterson/Corbis via Getty Images)
18. Older Prisoners in Wheelchairs at SCI Laurel Highlands Prison
Source:Getty
Somerset, Pennsylvania: Opened in July 1996, SCI Laurel Highlands is a minimum-security institution for men. It is a former state psychiatric hospital that was retrofitted to a prison in 1996. The facility has a separate housing unit for older and/or geriatric male inmates. It has its own dialysis unit, and takes care of other inmates’ substantial health care requirements that traditional facilities cannot meet easily. Laurel Highlands is also able to keep the elderly population relatively safe and free from problems or abuse they might otherwise experience in a general population facility. (Photo by mark peterson/Corbis via Getty Images)