Lauryn Hill has started her three-month prison sentence for tax evasion. The singer pleaded guility last year to tax evasion and will serve time in a minimum security federal prison in Connecticut.
Hill was proven guilty of neglecting tax payments on more than €1.3million she earned between 2005 and 2007. She was also charged with failing to pay state and federal taxes from 2008 and 2009, making a total of almost €1.8million.
Hill's explanation during sentencing in May was that the failure to pay taxes came at a time when she had abandoned the music industry for the protection of herself and her children. Elaborating on this, she said: "There were veiled threats, there was blacklisting...I was told, 'That's how it goes, it comes with the territory.' I came to be perceived as a cash cow and not a person. When people capitalise on a persona, they forget there is a person there."
The singer will live in an open barracks style prison, when inmates share a dormitory. They are also all expected to work jobs like gardening, landscaping and food catering.