WEST VIRGINIA Martha Stewart begins 5-month prison sentence

Because the term is less than one year, she won't get time off for good behavior.
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
ALDERSON, W.Va. -- Martha Stewart, the determined diva who created a media empire by sheer force of personality, is set to surrender her authority today to the U.S. prison system.
By 2 p.m. Stewart, 63, plans to enter the minimum-security prison camp nestled here amid the ancient Appalachian foothills to begin a five-month sentence.
The itinerary for her last night of freedom changed repeatedly Thursday as she tried to dodge the media horde that's descended upon this tiny railroad town.
She abandoned plans to stay at the exclusive Greenbrier resort 35 miles away after learning reporters had staked out the place, a source familiar with the matter said.
She finally settled on spending her last night at a private residence somewhere in the area, the source said.
Stewart was planning to be driven the last miles down rural back roads to Alderson's front gate, where the press is kept back from the prison's doors.
Mentally prepared
David Chesnoff, one of her lawyers and a longtime friend, would say only that he'd spoken with Stewart and she was mentally prepared for spending the next five months with 1,055 roommates.
"Like anybody in this situation, this is not one of her happiest days, but she's ready for this, and I think she'll handle it with grace," he said. "She's a remarkable person."
In the past week, Stewart has spent time with family, including her 90-year-old mother, her daughter and her sisters.
Because Stewart's sentence for lying about a stock sale is less than one year, she's not eligible for time off for good conduct. That means she won't exit Alderson until March 8.
In the interim, she'll work a full-time job for pennies an hour -- but won't be able to discuss her business, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia.
Available jobs include everything from helping in the kitchen -- where she'll have to wear a hair net -- to landscaping, which involves shoveling snow come winter.
Stewart has lined up a parade of pals and family members for regular visits, plus she'll be meeting with her lawyers to work on a pending appeal.
Letter to judge
On Thursday, her lawyers filed a letter with Manhattan Federal Judge Miriam Goldman Cedarbaum charging prosecutors deliberately withheld evidence that could have helped acquit Stewart. The alleged missing evidence popped up this month in the trial of a Secret Service ink expert who allegedly perjured himself during her trial. The expert was acquitted this week.
Stewart lawyer Walter Dellinger wrote the evidence "would have established that in a high-profile case like Ms. Stewart's, the government's crime lab sabotaged the critical testing in an effort to secure her indictment and conviction."